Chapter 10: Leaving the Spirit world.

The wooden raft moored to the shore and Michael let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. To be honest, this voyage was not long, but if he had to swim for a few more days, he risked being left without food. Fortunately, Sylphy helped him by directing the wind into the sails – Michael still couldn't use Airbending for whatever reason – and together with his Waterbending, they got to the island quickly enough.

The Island of Air Spirits looked… gloomy. To be honest, almost the entire Spirit World was not the happiest place, it was stuffed with dark and dangerous areas to the brim. Most of the Spirit World was no different from the Human World, sometimes you could forget that you ever left it. But when you meet a talking plant that wants to be… erm… far too friendly with you, such thoughts quickly disappear.

Stepping onto the rough sand, Michael sighed heavily, during his days on the raft he had forgotten how still the earth was. He definitely didn't want to go on another long voyage after that.

"Well, my caramel friend, let's go meet the Elder?" Sylphy flew in front of his face and waved towards the forest. "We don't have houses in the human sense, but this forest is as much a home for the Spirits of the air as a wooden cube is for you people!"

She shot him a proud grin and crossed her arms over her chest, pleased with herself that she knew how people lived. But Michael focused on a different problem than the Spirit's ignorance of people's homes.

"Caramel?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at his hands.

To his little surprise, his skin became much darker after a week of hard work under the sun. He was tired every day, feeling sore in places where he didn't even know he could, but pushed forward. So, by the end of his little trip, Michael was tanned and battered by the sea – and this is not taking into account other changes in his body.

'Whatever Jasmine did to my body, it gave a good result. I feel like I'm getting stronger every day. Is it the lack of a limit – or just something else that has changed after my death? Questions, questions…'

Quickly throwing on a black T-shirt and a green tunic, Michael tied the raft to a tree on the shore and followed Sylphy.

"Well, now I look very tanned… You know, I can't even imagine what corner of the world I might be. I don't think I look like a person from the Elemental Nations."

The spirit tilted her head, considering his words, but in the end just shrugged.

"For me, all people look very similar, I can only distinguish between women and men. I think it's because I don't see your kind often. Not that I could do anything about it." She muttered discontentedly and flew spine-first into a tree.

To Michael's surprise, Sylphy didn't stop, but simply broke apart her body around the tree and flew around the trunk. It seemed to him that the Spirit girl didn't even notice what she did, because she just continued to fly into the center of the forest backwards.

Shaking his head to get rid of the crazy image, Michael continued walking, keeping an eye on his surroundings. He didn't know how much the world wanted to get rid of him right now, but he hoped that this hatred wasn't enough to make the Spirits hate him so much that they would attack the second they saw him.

'How did he say it? The world is screaming for me to get rid of you?'

He spent quite a long time thinking about why some Spirits wanted to rip out his heart and devour it in front of his eyes, some just looked after him, and some were friendly. Michael suspected that everything depended on the willpower of the Spirit, but he doubted it very much since Sylphy didn't look mighty in this department.

Entering a huge clearing, Sylphy finally stopped. Michael almost crashed into her body, but was able to stop in time too. There were no buildings in the clearing, or even fallen trees to sit on, and that was logical. Most of the Spirits didn't need to sit, much less the Air Spirits.

At this thought Michael stopped abruptly. Why do the Air Spirits live on a random island in the middle of the sea, and not in mountains or temples? Why do they even have a place like this if air is the element of freedom?

РMichael's hands tightened around the cold metal of his staff, but nothing else showed his nervousness. He looked the same as he did seconds before, when he didn't even think it could be a trap.

'Stupid, gullible bastard! Just because you weren't killed right away doesn't mean they won't try to do it later!' He mentally hit himself on the head.

"Oh my, what aggressive thoughts you have. Why did you choose the element of freedom if your thoughts are in such a tight cage?"

Every cell of Michael was screaming for him to send a few ice needles towards the new voice and run back to the raft, but instead he only tilted his head and turned to the speaker. In the corner of the clearing, there was not quite a person, but rather a hurricane of winds in the shape of an old woman's face with ever-changing features.

The spirit looked at the man with interest, as if he were one of the wonders of the world, but at the same time a piece of dirt underfoot. Michael didn't even know that someone could look like they were looking at gold and shit at the same time.

"Well, if my thoughts are too aggressive, maybe you shouldn't read them."

The old woman's face frowned and Michael grinned. As soon as he realized that this Spirit was reading his mind, he began to think about the most random things: increasing primary numbers, the exact skin colors of all the girls with whom he spent nights, injuries of people who fell into his hands, and much more horrible stuff.

"Not a caged mind then. Organized. It's good for a warrior and a thief, but such organization limits your freedom, creature."

Now it was Michael's turn to frown. Was it just the arrogance of the Spirit, or was he no longer considered human?

"Again, rude. Are you the Elder I needed to meet?" Michael added a memory of how he stuck his client's hand into a mechanical meat grinder and started slowly turning the handle.

The old woman's face didn't even twitch, but she nodded. The spirits cared little about the pain of humans, so even such a cruel picture didn't tick the Elder.

"Wow, I knew you were special, but I didn't even suspect that the Elder would want to read your thoughts! I don't even know whether to tremble with fear or excitement!" Sylphy shuddered.

"Yes, I've already heard from Sylphy what's interesting about you. Tell me, why were you able to get rid of Gotl's grip on your connection with water, but not with wind? I see your nature through the waves of hatred, you carve freedom, but live in a golden cage. Is that the reason?"

Michael was silent. He knew that working for the Mafia tied him to his family even more than it was in ordinary families. The problem was that the Russian Mafia was much less honorable than its Italian counterpart – if you can even call it that. So with his relative freedom and monetary stability came the danger of a stab in the back and responsibilities that only a few are ready for.

His hands were already up to the elbows in blood, but at least he hadn't killed anyone… directly… Each time, someone else ended the life of his goals. So his conscience was as clear as possible for a torturer.

"I see… You can't even concentrate on the main problem, so I'll explain. When Gotl touches you, he blocks your Bending abilities. Most likely, he considered you too much of a danger."

Finally, Michael's brain caught up with this thought and realized that all this time he had not asked the right questions, leaving the problems to be solved by themselves.

'If I regained my Waterbending ability without even noticing it, then it wouldn't be that hard… right? How did I even do that?'

"Ah, the creature is finally starting to think, I agree, Sylphy, it's so exciting!" Another voice sounded and Michael froze.

He knew this voice, he had heard it in his nightmares when he did not dream of his meeting with the nameless Goddess. The sound similar to the grinding of nails on metal did not even begin to describe how this voice sounded. Cold as the wind from the mountains and ruthless as a natural disaster. It was the voice of the Spirit that had reached him on Kyoshi Island.

Michael turned and looked at the source of the voice only to freeze as soon as he saw who the voice belonged to.

"What the fuck?"

Before Michael stood the strangest creature he had ever seen in his life. It had three wings attached to a spherical body, three eyes in a triangular formation, and three horns on its head. Michael could only thank nature for the fact that this creature did not have three hanging dicks, given the theme that this creature followed.

"Okay, I know you're a mischievous Spirit who likes to use some kind of psychological warfare, but did you seriously have to show yourself? I can't take you seriously anymore, you look ridiculous."

The teenager could hardly contain his laughter at the sight of the low, pig-like body of the Spirit. He even had a snout! Who gives the master of psychological warfare such an appearance!?

"Many have laughed at me, but not many have left me in their right mind, creature."

The spirit growled and Michael couldn't hold back any longer. His laughter broke the brief silence in the clearing and he had to lean on his staff to keep from falling.

"BWAHAHAHA! I'M THREATENED BY A HORNED PIG!"

Nearly crying, he noticed the pig getting more and more irritated. But Michael was able to calm down before the Spirit could reach the boiling point.

"Huu~ I won't apologize because you're a little bitch. I can't believe you gave me nightmares." He muttered and turned to the Elder. "I suspect that you want to talk to me? Otherwise, Sylphy wouldn't have brought me here."

Sylphy jumped in front of him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hey! I'd bring you here even if she didn't want to talk! I can invite friends over even if they're human!"

The elder and the pig laughed, causing the wind around them to shake a little. The young Spirit frowned and looked between her elders, she just didn't understand why they were laughing.

"Excuse me dear, we're not laughing at you, we're laughing because he's as human as you and I."

Michael sighed heavily and lightly hit himself on the head with the staff several times. He suspected that he was no longer human, but hearing this from the Spirit felt like a death sentence.

'If they're not lying, of course.'

Sylphy, meanwhile, bombarded the Elder with a tsunami of questions that she didn't even bother to answer.

"He's a Spirit?! Say he's a Spirit, I know he's a Spirit, even if he doesn't feel like a Spirit!" She blabbered excitedly.

"Mah~ I bet she's going to say she has no idea what I am." Micheal moaned and slowly fell to the floor.

The pig was incredibly indignant and decided to let the whole world know about it. At least that's what Michael assumed because the Spirit screeched like a banshee.

"You vermin! How dare a murderer and a thief doubt the Elder's knowledge?!"

Michael only raised his head a little to look at the old woman's face and raise an eyebrow.

"Am I wrong?"

The Elder didn't answer anything and only sighed heavily, which raised the question of whether she had lungs. Given that she's just a flying face, Michael thought it was unlikely.

"You're right, I don't know what you are. I can only say that you definitely shouldn't be here, especially with such windy thoughts."

"This isn't the first time I've heard this, Elder. If you don't want to ask questions, then I'll start asking. Where is the crack that leads to the Human World?"

The Elder nodded in the direction of several fallen trees – which were not there moments ago – and a way back to the Human World appeared before Michael's eyes. It looked like it was a broken one-way mirror that opened up a view to another reality. The teenager almost couldn't believe that something like this existed, but quickly changed his mind because he literally met the embodiment of Death once.

His view of the world changed quite a bit that day.

"I'll walk you through the aisle, we can talk along the way." The elder smiled towards Sylphy and then frowned a little. "This conversation is just for the two of us."

Knowing that he didn't have much choice, Michael followed the flying face and noticed how the Pig tried to follow them, but was caught by Sylphy. He sent a silent thank you in the direction of his new friend and calmly walked towards the crack.

"To be honest, I expected it to be much more difficult to get out of here." Michael confessed while looking at his exit from the Spirit World.

"Not everything in life has to be a challenge, creature."

The Elder's eyes turned towards the teenager with interest and her head shrank to the size of a human one. Her voice also became quieter and softer, like a summer breeze.

"Tell me, do you still want to free the Dark One?"

Michael froze, not for the first time today, and his eye twitched. Even with all the countermeasures, his mind was read like an open book. He didn't like it, especially considering that usually the main characters of fanfiction that he read were immune to such bullshit. Of course, he will deny until his last breath that he has read something like that.

"And what if I am? What difference does it make to you, Spirit?"

The Elder frowned and looked at him as if he was an idiot. A look that looks unchangeable even on the faces of the Gods.

"Then I pray that your reasons are enough to pay for them with everything that makes you yourself, child. Vaatu corrupts everything he touches, and no matter what you think, you will not be an exception."

Something in the back of Michael's head told him that this was the truth that he had always known, but refused to see. His sticky hands just wanted to steal something important for the Lore of this world and see how the universe is trying to fix the mess that he created. Of course, most likely he would find the World Gates before anything interesting could begin, but the idea itself was pleasant.

"If Vaatu gets into the human world again, he will stop at nothing to get rid of Raava. He won't accept you as an equal or build a friendship with you, he'll just see you as another puppet."

It was the first time the Spirit had spoken to him without veiled riddles-apart from Sylphy-so he decided to listen. But in the end Michael decided to change the subject, he had a couple of questions after all.

"How exactly did Gotl block my Bending? How did I get Waterbending back and how do I get Airbending back?" He blinked and snapped his fingers, remembering one unpleasant thing. "And how did that pig know so much about me?"

The Elder's face hardened and Michael prepared himself for a long lecture.

"Gotl allowed you to touch the Lake of Emotions, but even before that, he was imperceptibly sending steam coming from the Lake to you. It clouded your mind and gradually blocked your connection with the elements. It will pass through time, or if you return harmony with your inner element. If you want to regain Airbending soon, then you need to find your inner freedom, the path of least resistance."

Michael tilted his head in confusion, remembering the words of Octo-bitch that left him with so much inspiration, he didn't know what to do with it. Why did they say the same thing? And if the path of least resistance is the key to understand the air, then how exactly did it help him get Waterbending back?

But he decided to wait until the end of the lecture like a good boy, because interrupting is rude, especially when you are given important information.

"The Spirit you call a pig… he doesn't know anything about you. Savvat can only imitate the voices of others and nothing more."

Michael tilted his head in confusion and frowned.

"Then whose voice was it?" He asked.

"I can't tell you that. He always responds to his name and if he sees you here… Well, you'll never get out alive."

Slightly creeped out, Michael promised himself to learn how to kill strong Spirits as soon as possible. He didn't want to be exposed to these bastards, especially since he wouldn't be lucky enough to learn their weaknesses like he did with Gotl.

"Okay. So I need to do some kind of spiritual exercise to get my Airbending back, find out the name of the Spirit that is 'watching' me, and figure out why that Spirit Octopus is such a cryptic bitch. Did I miss anything?"

If the Elder was amused, she didn't show it. The Spirit just nodded to herself and looked directly into Michael's eyes, as if searching for his soul.

"You forgot to stop thinking about stealing the Dark One. It won't do you or the world any good."

Turning to the crack, Michael did not notice how the Elder called Sylphy to her, the young Spirit immediately flew to her side. She looked sadly at her new friend who was about to leave and sighed heavily, attracting the attention of the teenager.

Sylphy's cloud hair was dark and sometimes you can see a flash of lightning in the clouds. Michael understood perfectly well why Friendly Spirit was in such a mood, but he couldn't do anything about it. He needed to return to the Human World.

"Hey, Sylphy." He took her hand and squeezed it gently, trying to get her attention. "Don't be sad. I know that you only have to wait about five decades before you can make more friends."

Sylphy perked up and her hair began to shine from the inside, the former thunderstorm turned into a bright dawn. Michael also increased the speed and number of thoughts in his head so that the Elder could not understand what exactly he was thinking. Although even if she finds out about the future, it won't matter so much. With Michael's presence, enough things have already changed in the world to make his information useless.

"Really?!" She squeezed his palm in response and squeaked, making the winds around her sing with happiness. "Wow! And how do you know that I will be able to make more friends?"

Michael laughed softly, looking at the interest in the Spirit's eyes.

"I can't tell you that. You'll have to see for yourself when that moment comes."

Rolling her eyes, Sylphy pushed him towards the crack, but there was a smile on her face. She was sad to let her friend go, but the promise of a better future sounded better than nothing.

The elder flew up to Michael and stopped next to him.

"Are you ready to go back to the Human World?"

He just nodded, blinking a couple of times because of the warm wind that blew at him from the crack.

"I'm always ready. Do you know where I'm going?"

The Elder thought about it, but shook her head. The worlds of Spirits and Humans were separated for about ten thousand years, of course she didn't know what was on the other side.

You are reading story Journey Home – Starting Line at novel35.com

Michael put his hand on the surface of the crack and immediately felt a strange not quite solid barrier. The sensation on his hand was not like glass or film, rather he felt as if his hand was being pushed away by an invisible hand identical to his own.

He felt a push on his back and immediately began to fall through the crack, stumbling forward due to the sudden movement.

"Goodbye, Michael! Good luck to you!" He heard Sylphy's voice before the crack exploded into an ocean of shards.

Now in the Human World, Michael took a deep breath and looked around, immediately noticing that he was next to some kind of city.

"Well, it's time to find out where I am." He muttered and walked towards the city.

"Maa~ I knew the world hated my guts, but to be thrown so close to the colonies of the Fire Nation?" Michael dragged his hand through his hair, removing his bangs from his eyes to see how bad it was. "Well, I could have ended up in the Fire Lord's toilet, so I'll count myself lucky."

Michael stood on the edge of the forest, watching the people who freely entered and left the city. Each of them wore clothes in dark colors with red shades, so he had no doubt who exactly the city belonged to.

Fire Nation had enough colonies on Earth Kingdom territory to bother any reasonable person, so Michael wasn't surprised when he noticed the patrols of the Fire Nation soldiers. What surprised him was how calm the citizens were about the occupation, they didn't even throw hateful glances at the soldiers.

'Most likely it's all immigrants from Fire Island, I don't see anyone who looks like a resident of Earth Kingdom.' In fact, the city was bustling with activity, as if preparing for some kind of festival. From where Michael could see, the city was decorated much more than one would expect. This played into his hands, during the celebration he would have much less chance of catching the eyes of the soldiers.

"Wait, why exactly am I trying to hide? As far as I know, I have not been put on the wanted list yet, and I doubt that the Prince will share information about me openly. Although his crew might have said something about me…"

Shaking his head, Michael took a deep breath and walked towards the city. Right now, he could only use Waterbending, but that would be a bad idea in the territory of the Fire Nation. He planned to find a place to stay overnight and try to unblock his Airbending as soon as possible. Without half of his abilities, he felt naked.

The guards at the entrance were surprisingly chill, but Michael expected this to some extent. In civilian cities where there were no military facilities there was no special presence of the army. People around him looked at him cross because of his height and completely black clothes, but not because they thought he was a spy or worse.

Deciding to blend in with the crowd, Michael imperceptibly snatched something resembling a coat from a street stall and in one fluid movement threw it over his shoulders.

'I have clothes from Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, it remains to find something at the North Pole and in the Temple of Air where Steampunk people are.'

No one paid attention to him after that. He continued to walk through the busy streets and eavesdropped on people's conversations, trying to understand what exactly lowered the city into such a festive atmosphere.

"-resh fruits! Come buy!" Nothing interesting here.

"-you know that Azi broke up with-" The less heard, the better.

"-knew there was an animal in the world better than a horse." No– what? How does he knows about horses anyway?

"What's a horse?"

"Huh? I said something?" The man sounded very confused.

Deciding not to get into this can of worms, Michael accelerated his steps.

"-my cabbages! The best cabbages in the world!"

'Huh, he's here… I wonder how his cabbages will die this time, usually the reason is the Avatar's actions.'

Michael walked down the street and did not notice how he kicked a small pebble. This pebble fell under the foot of a very fat gentleman who stumbled and lost his balance. Panicking, he grabbed the nearest thing to support himself, which unfortunately turned out to be a rope on which the flags that adorned the city hung. The hooks holding the rope were stuck into the building walls far too well, so instead of pulling them out of the stone, the man pulled the wall of one of the houses behind him.

Cabbage seller noticed a huge shadow that appeared behind him and looked in horror at the falling wall. Stones crashed to the ground and raised a cloud of dust, blocking people's line of sight. But when the dust fell, everyone could see that the cabbage seller was standing unscathed… his cabbages though? Not so much.

"MY CABBAGES!!!"

Michael looked at what was happening in shock, not even knowing how anyone could be more unfortunate than him. He quickly walked away from the old man, not trusting the universe not to pull off some other trick. Fortunately, this time he didn't kick a single pebble.

He began eavesdropping on people's conversations again, and this time he found the information he needed rather quickly. Oddly enough, he heard it from two loud children.

"Are you going to the traveling circus?! Man, I'm so jealous! I heard there are a lot of animals!" Obviously, this caught Michael's attention.

"Yes! My parents got us tickets in the upper box!"

Michael stopped next to the children, which attracted their attention. They looked up to see his face and reminded the teenager how small everyone is in this world. He noticed the obvious fear in their eyes, so he used his strongest weapon against fear. Politeness.

"I'm sorry to distract you from your conversation, but can you tell me where this circus you're talking about is?"

The children blinked in unison, which surprised Michael a little, but considering everything that had happened to him up to this point, he was not surprised at such trifles. The older looking boy pointed to the North.

"The circus is outside the city on that side. They couldn't open here, something about lack of space."

Michael nodded and silently walked towards the circus, his thoughts returned to the conversation with the Nameless Goddess in his dream.

He didn't have any more dreams where he spoke to anyone, but he thought it was a good thing. As long as he's the only one in his head, Michael will be happy.

'What did she say? "you should visit the circus" and no context. Well, if this is the circus I'm thinking of, then I'll meet the bendy girl…' Michael froze in place and stared into nowhere. 'Why did it dawn on me just now that I'm going to meet one of my favorite characters. Didn't I have a crush on her?'

Hitting himself on the head with his staff, Michael got his brain back on track and continued walking towards the circus. He was completely unaware that somewhere in the sky, the Nameless Goddess cacled with glee when she saw where he was.

To tell the truth, Michael was a little impressed when he saw the circus tent. Just a little.

What he wasn't impressed about was the poor security. It was awfully easy for him to sneak in unnoticed, especially given how many holes there were in the "protection" of the tent. The dark red fabric with black looked beautiful and even a little menacing – that's probably why they added some gold – but when you can just lift the curtain and go inside… Well, that's why Michael didn't like those tents.

The only problem was that he had to enter from the side and was too close to the animal cages. That they chose to ignore him was a miracle, especially that parrot that looked more like a beaver. Michael learned that the birds didn't like him when he was in the Air Temple.

'Find a place where I can see the show and go unnoticed. I can steal the clothes of one of the staff, but then someone will definitely take me for a newbe and make me work. I won't buy into that cliché.'

Michael nodded to himself and tightened the strap on his bag. His steel staff gleamed too much in the dark, so he wrapped it in one of his thin black blankets.

'I'll fix that later.'

Yes, even his blankets were black. Most likely because Death gave them to him, but he couldn't be sure.

Staying in the shadows and away from the torches, Michael continued to explore the tent. It had been so long since he'd stalked in the shadows that he forgot how good it felt to slip under someone's nose and steal a couple of trinkets to soothe his soul. And there were a lot of trinkets in the circus.

Michael used to be called a magpie for his love of small things that looked pretty. He especially liked everything shiny. He wasn't called a dragon just because he didn't protect his collection as madly as one might expect. The very fact that he had stolen was important to him, but he usually kept almost nothing for himself.

Even he thought it was a little strange.

Michael took another turn and immediately went back into the shadows. He stumbled upon the artists' changing room and he definitely didn't need to go there.

Fortunately, this meant that the exit to the arena was close, so Michael remembered everything he knew about the structure of such tents and slipped under another curtain–

–only to come face to face with a girl with wide brown eyes.

They both blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out what was going on. Michael mentally punched himself for getting lost in familiar sensations and forgetting to check the horizon, while the girl looked at him like he was the most interesting being in the universe – well, he kind of was, but that’s beside the point.

"I didn't think anyone would try to sneak into our show from the changing rooms."

Michael could see her face from his position on the ground, the girl still didn't try to straighten up or move away from him. Pale skin, a slightly upturned nose, thin eyebrows, large brown eyes, a wide smile and a long pigtail hanging from her right shoulder.

"Anyone who tries to sneak from the main entrance must either be arrogant or an idiot. I'm neither." He shrugged.

Ty Lee – because who else could it be? – nodded and studied Michael's face too. He didn't look like any guy she'd seen before, but at the same time, he looked like everyone else. Aristocratic features, tanned skin and wavy black hair. It was unusual, especially when she noticed that his eyes were different colors.

"Yeah, that would be rather stupid." Suddenly she grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet with unexpected strength. Michael didn't even have time to squeak as he was already being pushed towards the stage. "Hide under the balcony, there'll be a pretty good view of the performance!"

Michael nodded silently, still trying to figure out how strong she was if she could lift him. Tai Li gave him one last smile and turned around to leave. "And don't you dare run away right after the show! I still want to talk to you!"

And so Michael was left completely alone in front of the tent flap. Shaking his head, he sneaked inside and hid under the 'important people' balcony.

Again, somewhere in heaven, the Nameless Goddess laughed looking at the earth. Her prediction turned out to be true! 'I didn't even have to manipulate events to make them meet! …Much.'

---

'Bending arts are strange.' Michael thought, looking at the still empty circus stage. He leaned on the beam that supported the VIP balcony and waited for the show to begin. 'An ability that is both a part of the soul and the body. A person can be separated from his Bending by Energybending or by using the Chi Blocking Technique.'

Michael raised his scarred hand in front of his face and gathered a small ball of water from the air in his palm. 'Right now I am cut off from Airbending due to Gotl's bullshit, even though I was able to unlock Waterbending a few days ago.' He raised the ball of water to his index finger and the water slowly turned red. 'How did the advice from that octopus help me at all? The path of least resistance applies to the Airbenders…'

Something made Michael freeze at the thought. He slowly repeated the last sentence in his head and suddenly wanted to hit his forehead against something – which he did after a couple of seconds of stupor (and if the supporting beam cracked no one would know).

"I'm an idiot." He muttered. Michael has never been stupid, far from it, his mind allowed him to survive in the most difficult situations. Even when the whole world was against him – literally – but sometimes he just couldn't see the obvious answer that was in front of his nose.

Although Bending Arts in its essence required certain emotions and movements, Michael was able to get rid of it. He didn't know how much work he had done, and how much Jasmine had helped him by changing his body, but the result remained the same: he used Bending differently from everyone else.

For him, both water and air were associated with movement.

Water that at one moment can be a lazy river, but can become a raging stream.

Air, which feels like a gentle breeze in one place and a terrible hurricane in another.

Both elements for him were similar, but at the same time couldn't be more different. So that he was given the same advice for two different elements shouldn't have surprised him, not really.

That water and wind both took the path of least resistance was true, at least as long as they didn't have enough power. When there was enough water or wind, both could grind down mountains.

Michael looked at the blood-red orb on his finger and let it fall to the ground. All this time, he tried to approach the problem from the side of the "Avatar world", but for him it was not necessary. What is the point of obeying the logic of this world if his home world is something completely different? He himself confirmed this by creating Razenshuricen, which was even theoretically impossible to recreate in this world.

He only has himself to blame for not noticing this sooner.

'What is Air to me?' But before he could continue his philosophical thoughts, torches were lit on the stage, filling the tent with light. A man wearing a cool hat stepped out of the shadows and waved it up in the middle of the stage with such flare that even Michael was surprised.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I welcome you all to the Fire Nation traveling circus! Today you will have an unforgettable performance full of exitment!" He grinned at the audience. It wasn't a pleasant smile, Michael thought, but he was just biased. "But you didn't come to listen to my speeches! Meet: the best troupe of the Fiery Nation!"

Several animals were released onto the stage and Michael took a couple of steps back. He was sure that if at least one chimera from this world saw his thieving ass, then he would definitely have to fight off the whole circus, and considering that now he only has Waterbending...

'Although if you think about it, I can escape untouched. That, or I underestimate the security of this Circus.' He blinked a couple of times and took his place in the shadows, deciding to watch the show from there. Animals ran around the stage causing the crowd to let out loud 'ooh's and 'aah's. Michael wasn't sure exactly when the firebenders appeared there, but now the animals were running around the stage surrounded by whirlwinds of fire.

'That can't be good…' But contrary to his expectations, the animals simply stayed as far away from the fire as possible. In this circus, the main method of punishment was fire, so the animals learned to avoid it in all cases. How they didn't panic every time they saw a fire will remain a mystery to Michael.

In general, the performance was boring for someone who used to live in the two thousandth, but Michael still tried not to be distracted. Pretty soon the animals returned to the stage and several more torches lit up under the ceiling. Her outfit, according to Michael, was either based on the image of the sun, or on the mane of a lion – or another chimera from this world – and he was not afraid to say that she looked quite good. 'Even better than good. I feel like a horny teenager again– aw shit, I am one!'

Ty Lee looked confident and jumped towards the first rung under the ceiling with a big smile. The crowd held their breath and didn't dare to move until the gymnast grabbed the bar with her feet. The girl confidently kept herself in the air and just as confidently swayed under the ceiling of the tent. Michael was sure that at some point she began to hang on only one leg, but didn't understand exactly when this happened.

Like a snake, she threw herself forward from the crossbar, as if flying into the darkness. People in the crowd began to scream, not expecting her to just jump into abyss, but suddenly two rings fell in front of Ty Lee, which she immediately grabbed and swayed forward. She stood up on her hands – still holding on to the crossbar – doing an air split, and at that very moment the fire lit up behind her, illuminating not a figure.

Michael admitted to himself, given the limitations of technological development, these people were able to put on a show. He was not a fan of circuses, but what Ty Lee did was hardly a simple performance.

Incredible jumps with almost no safety measures, body flexibility comparable to that of a snake, and, of course, a cute face. The latter was Michael's bias, but who could blame him? (Definitely not you.)

Michael himself did not notice how the performance slowly came to an end. For him, Ty Lee was like a magnet, he just couldn't take his eyes off her. When she disappeared into the roof of the tent, he snapped out of his trance and began to watch the show again without much interest.

"Haa~" He sighed heavily and cracked his back. Michael completely lost interest when fire breathers came to the scenes – come on, every Fire Bender knows how to do this! So, not thinking much about the boring show, he went towards the troupe rooms.

Michael walked past the circus workers like a shadow and pretty soon found himself in front of the private dressing rooms. He stopped in front of a wooden door with Ty Lee's name on it. It was closed, so he did the polite thing and knocked.

"Come– in!" Michael heard her say and went inside. His eyes immediately fell on Ty Lee, who sat in front of a tall mirror and tried in vain to unravel the knot in her hair. Unfortunately, her incredible flexibility couldn't help in untying knots.

Once Michael realized what she was doing, he chuckled and stepped closer. "Stop." He put his hands on top of hers and smiled even wider when he saw the pout on her face. "You'll rip your hair that way. Let me just…" He hoocked his fingers in her hair and began to carefully untie the ponytail. Now he was thanking Jasmine for returning his arm, because he certainly couldn't have done it with metal fingers.

"So what did you like the most about our performance?" Ty Lee asked with interest.

"You." Michael answered without delay. "To be honest, without you, this circus would have been shut down a long time ago and sent back to the Fire Nation. Exotic animals and Firebenders are certainly interesting, but when one sees something like this in the forests every day… Well, it loses its charm."

Ty Lee's cheeks flushed a little, but Michael was too distracted to notice. "I still can't believe you were able to do all this in the air with such grace." He paused for a second, trying to figure out just how her hair crumpled into a perfect sea knot, and suddenly realized something important. "Oh, I never introduced myself, my name is Michael."

Ty Lee blinked a couple of times in surprise, trying to understand why her new acquaintance had such a strange name, but only shrugged. "My name is Ty Lee, nice to meet you!" She gasped. "Right! I wanted to ask you why you snuck into the circus!"

"Well, one of my eccentric friends strongly recommended that I visit the circus someday. I don't go to places like that often, to be honest, so I thought I might as well." Michael frowned. Somehow the sea knot became an eye splice. He began to feel like he was only making the situation worse.

Ty Lee meanwhile shamelessly enjoyed the feel of his hands on her scalp. She didn't meet such interesting people as Michael often, full of mysteries and interesting stories. "Why not? Aren't circuses or festivals fun?"

'What the hell is going on with her hair?' He stared at the triple eight-shaped knot, but as soon as he blinked, a completely different knot appeared in the place of the last one.

"... Dunno. The last time I was at the circus, the guards mistook me for a thief and tried to stab me." He didn't say that he was actually a thief, but at that time was completely innocent. "And, on my last visit to the festival, I had to save a friend from a crowd of angry women."

"Huh? What did he do?" She tilted her head back to look into his eyes. Michael stared at the unnatural angle at which her neck arched, but decided to ignore it for the moment.

"He ran out onto the main stage and stripped naked. In his defense, I can only say that he is an idiot." Finally, the knot in her hair was untied and it fell freely over her shoulders. "Done. I've never seen such an intricate knot in anyone's hair, not even my own. You seem to be quite an interesting person indeed."

Ty Lee looked at her loose hair in surprise and turned to Michael. The girl smiled and stood up and unexpectedly hugged Michael, laying her head on his chest. He froze for a second, but returned the hug.

"Thank you! Usually I have to fiddle with them for over an hour! How did you do that?" She pulled back a little to look at his face.

"For a long time, I myself went around with long hair. But to be honest, your hair is strange, it's–"

The door to the room opened without a knock and Ty Lee and Michael's heads snapped towards their unexpected guest. "Ty Lee, the show is over, do you need help…" A girl unknown to Michael finally noticed his presence and just stared at them. He could practically see the gears turning in her head, trying to figure out exactly what she was seeing.

"Erm… Hi?" Was all he managed to say.

Unfortunately, this turned out to be the wrong choice, because it was at that moment that he noticed a dagger suddenly appear in her hand.

"Who are you?!" She demanded.

'Well, shit.'

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