Chapter 42: New Friends
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- Yeah, we were looking at that... what do you call it? - Azula continued to speak in her own manner, but then Lee turned around to put the bouquet on the table, except it was me behind her.
- Oh, who are you? - we meet eyes. - Is he a new acquaintance of yours? - Leigh turns her head, looking for an answer from her friends....
Mei stared at the place where I was, looking with her eyes for the unknown person that Tai Li is talking about. Azula, on the other hand, was greatly surprised, as was I myself. This had never happened before. I was completely unprepared for such a turn of events. Of course, if I remembered something from canon, there were people who could see spirits. But how did Lee learn to do that? Maybe she meant someone else? Not me? And why am I thinking such stupid things right now? I should stop staring at the maiden like a mute fish.
- And why is it transparent? And flying? Is it that kind of magic or... - the girl freezes at her own guess, taking a step back, - is it a spirit?
- Ahem... - the princess didn't know what to say, shifting her gaze from me to Tai Li. Actually now in the dressing room was something like a Mexican confrontation, but instead of pistols there were glances that flitted from person to person. Everyone was looking at each other, not knowing what was going on.
- You see him? - After somehow managing her surprise, Azula spoke at the same time as me.
"Do you see me?" - I point to myself, slowly whitewashing Lee. She kept looking at me, turning her head behind me.
- 'Yes, I can see you just fine. Mister, could you stop looking at me with that weird look? - The girl was embarrassed, averting her gaze. - 'And mister, you still haven't answered, are you a spirit?
"Ahem, sort of yes, and regular people can't see spirits," I finally control my surprise and answer the overly optimistic and at the same time slightly scared gymnast.
- Great, I've never seen spirits before! I have so many questions for you! - Tai Li continued to speak excitedly, once again knocking me out of my stride with her carefree attitude, and where did her fear go? - What is it like to be a spirit? Is the spirit world beautiful? What does it look like? And where is it located?
- Ha. Ha," Mei fake laughed, catching everyone's attention. To emphasise how 'funny' she was, she even clapped slowly, showing off her sarcasm. - That's very funny. You almost had me fooled. But no. You can stop this farce, I'm no longer a child to believe such nonsense.
- May, can't you see him? He's standing right here, right in front of you! - Lee said in surprise, pointing her finger at me.
- No need to go on, Lee. I appreciate your joke, but let's not spoil the moment with silly pranks. And if you want to know, I'm offended that you met earlier without me to come up with such a silly prank," the girl continued to show her scepticism, but despite her calm tone, there was resentment in her voice.
I remember when Azula played a crude prank on her friend when she was a child. There were 'spirits' in that story too. Of course, there were no spirits themselves, just kids scaring their friend one night after telling some scary stories beforehand. Anyway now was not the time to bring that up.
"Looks like you're going to have a lot of explaining to do to your girlfriends," I look at Azula, not knowing what else to say here. This is not at all how I had imagined this meeting. Not at all.
- It's true! There is a fourth person here. He's a spirit called Yoaru. I've known him for months," Azula began to explain, tilting her head and winding a lock of her hair around her finger. The girl hadn't fully dealt with her emotions, and was now experiencing rather strange feelings.
- Would you stop it? I get the joke, it's not funny," May looked at her friends with a frown, her arms folded across her chest.
- It's true, it's true, we didn't agree to play a joke on you," the gymnast turned to me. - So your name is Yoaru? I'm Tai Li, nice to meet you," Li introduced herself in a friendly manner, but didn't move closer. Despite being positive and friendly she is still wary.
- Yoaru, show yourself to them," the princess ordered in a commanding voice.
"I don't like your tone, I'm not your servant," I tell her glumly.
"Oh, and how would I do that? Even being material, I'm still invisible... ah, that's what you meant" - as soon as I said that, the princess rolled her eyes and looked at me with her special look. I remembered it, the look of an idiot. It's been a long time since I've seen it.
- Oh, now something has to happen for me to start believing you," May continued to say with a hint of irritation as I pondered how best to prove myself and prove my existence. It would have happened sooner or later, and there was no turning back.
- May, he's coming towards you. He's right there. He's reaching for your arse, what a shameless man," the circus girl covered her eyes with her hands, guessing what would happen next. But I saw her peeking through the slit.
- Lee, with such persuasive skills you should be an actress instead of an acrobat! - The girl jumps up sharply, turns around, and on reflexes performs a couple of close combat moves with a cold weapon.
I somehow didn't even notice when knives appeared in her hands. In any case, all of the girl's attacks went through me, and now she's frowning at the void in front of her, confused, not seeing anyone in front of her. Heh, it was worth pinching for that emotion, neither me nor Azula had ever seen her so emotional ever in her life. Mei was much prettier with emotion.
- Okay, what was that? Some kind of magic? - My victim looked around incredulously, still not believing there was a ghost in the room.
- Yoaru's spirit. People don't usually see him," Azula repeated, massaging her temples. This whole situation destroyed the plan we had made.
I had to move things around in the room, make some things 'fly', but May kept hesitating. In the end, the princess came up with the idea of having her friend touch me to make sure the ghost existed. I had to strain to become fully material. Ty Lee brought her friend over to me, placing her hands in mine. Somehow these actions felt like a wedding ritual. My mind is still thinking about some nonsense, refusing to grasp reality.
- Yes, I feel something, cold, are those hands? - May said thoughtfully, groping my limbs.
- Yes. You touch his hands, he's standing right in front of you, - after the acrobat's words, the girl's palm hits my face, overcoming the obstacle, it goes through me, leaving behind only a small prick of pain.
- Oh," Lee squeaked, covering her mouth with her hands.
"You have a temper. I think we're going to be friends," I smirk and say right into her face.
- It's like hitting water," May shakes her hand, the slap hurting her more than it did me. - Did he feel anything? - she asks, turning to her friends.
- Um..." Li frowned, "he seemed to like you.
Mei snorted at her friend's words, turning away from me defiantly and folding her arms across her chest.
- This isn't how I pictured our reunion," Zula said thoughtfully.
"Not everything and not everything always goes according to plan, but rather nothing and never. In any case, it's nice to meet you, Lee, Mei. You can call me Yoaru, as you have realised I am a spirit, or a ghost. Anyway Lee, do you have any guesses as to why you can see me and other people can't?" - I introduced myself, then asked a question that we were all interested in the answer to.
- Um... I don't know. I've never seen spirits before," the girl spoke confusedly, seeking support from her friends. Did I say something wrong? Maybe I look kind of scary? Or maybe it was the situation itself that made her feel out of place. It was a no-brainer, though; everyone in the room felt the same way.
- Did he say something? - Mei knew right away.
- Yes, wondering why she can see him while the others can't," Azula explained to her friend.
- You see him too.
- It's..." the princess hesitated, "It's a long story.
'Your chakras are open and your aura is very bright,' while the girls were talking amongst themselves, I continued talking to Tai Li.
- 'You can see auras too? That's so cool! Hmmm... - putting her finger to her lips, Li portrayed an active thought activity. - I remember! I have all my chakras open! Perhaps the open chakras have something to do with the fact that I can see you?
"Perhaps. How did you manage to open them? Did someone teach you? As far as I know opening all the chakras is very difficult,'' talking to the girl was getting more and more interesting.
- Yes, a funny old man, a master of yoga and various meditations. He introduced himself as Guru Patik, and he is almost one hundred and fifty years old. I met him when I was already travelling with the circus, in one of the cities where we were doing shows. He said that I was talented and offered to teach me some types of meditation. While our circus was near the city, I learnt from him every day how to open my chakras. He also talked a lot about all sorts of things: peace, spirits, Qi, cosmic energy and.... - I had the impression that the girl was going to tell me everything in detail, but I had already caught the gist of it and, as much as her friends were interested in listening, I decided to interrupt her. This was not the time or place for such talk. And my curiosity could be piqued.
"That's enough. I hear you," the old man's name didn't mean anything to me.
In this world there is magic, Qi, giant animals that logically should not live but do, and the same history knows many, really long-lived people whose age exceeded a hundred years or more. The age of an old man isn't so great if you remember Kyoshi's avatar that died at the age of two hundred and thirty. Even though Azula and Mei didn't believe in a super old old man, but I didn't deny the possibility of a person living that long. After all, the same Kyoshi found a way to stay young for her years, and died far from her own death.
The interruption of the story made Lee somewhat upset. Perhaps I should have been gentler with such a vulnerable girl. But I guess it's time to get back to what the girls were originally here for.
"I'd like to hear the story in detail, but this isn't the time or place. Ahem, Azula. Can I talk to you for a moment?"
- А?
- What?
While the princess' girlfriends were under the impression of my behaviour. I took the girl under my elbow and led her out of Tai Li's dressing room tent. All of this was happening under the very surprised looks of those present....
- Yoaru," the princess said in surprise when I let go of her hand and we were a few metres away from the dressing room. There were people walking everywhere outside doing something, but we didn't pay attention to them and they didn't notice us.
"I'm sorry to be rude, but with all this we've forgotten the main thing. Anyway, my presence here is unnecessary. Proceed as planned. Tai Li is very good-natured, explain the situation to her, tell her you need her and she'll help. We've talked about this before, I'll find something to do to keep me out of the way. It's up to you what you tell her about me, you can make stuff up, you can hide things. I don't care, but lying between friends will not lead to anything good," I told the princess, looking at the stars in the night sky. The performance had started in the evening and ended after sunset. It was quite late at night now.
- I don't need your permission, nor do I need your advice," she throws in irritation, looking at me with a challenging look.
"Regarding the former, I know. I doubt it about the second," I smirk, stoically enduring her stare.
"Now that we've talked about it, I think I should go. You should try to talk Ty Lee into it, I like her. I think with her, my everyday life on the ship will become more interesting," I finish with a smile, going to fly high into the sky as....
- Hm!
"What is it?" - I turn around, looking at Azula with a tired look.
- No, nothing.
"Yeah? I think there's something," her tense posture, her angry look, everything said that she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. Giving her some time to think, I waited for a clear answer.
- Yes, there is. The way Ty Lee talked to you. I got a little annoyed watching you two talk. You two found common ground very quickly.
"Are you jealous of me with your mates? That's... flattering. I think we'll need to talk about it, but not now. Go, they are already waiting for you," without waiting for an answer, I fly away into the sky surprised by such a peculiar confession. The princess gave me a pensive look and headed back to her friends.
***
Meanwhile, in Tai Li's dressing room, another conversation was going on between the princess's friends.
- What do you think is the connection between them? - The gymnast asked as she looked away from what she had just seen.
The unknown spirit, Yoaru, literally dragged their friend out of the room by force. Such liberties the princess had never forgiven anyone before, much less allowed. Such a simple action with Azula caused a lot of surprise and even more reflection among the girls. Who is he? How are they related? Who are they to each other? Why are they together? Why didn't she resist? And similar questions raced through her friends' minds.
- Definitely yes..." May answered thoughtfully, pondering, while looking at the closing door, "Hmm... no, nothing.
- What is it? Did you want to say something? - The acrobat was shrewd, moving closer to her friend.
- Nothing.
- Well Mae-hey, we're mates, tell me what you're thinking.
- All right. I reckon she'd be more willing to tell you the story of how they met than me," she says to the acrobat, looking at the world with a cynical eye without false hope. She and Azula were friends of course, but Tai Li and the princess could be considered best friends.
- Ah... - Lee stretched out, - I see. I wonder how long they have known each other?
- I'm curious about that too. There's a connection between them, but what kind of connection? - said the girl thoughtfully. This day was a day of revelations for Mei, she had never lost control of herself so often in one day.
- By the way! Have you noticed their similarities? They're like relatives! - Tai Li remembered one interesting point, which she had forgotten because of a number of more interesting questions related to Yoaru.
- I haven't seen him," Mei reminded her sceptically.
- Sorry, it's just that he looks a lot like her. Like Zuko, before that incident... - Tai Li stops herself, remembering the unpleasant topic. - Well, you know.
- 'I see,' Mei replied coolly, having understood perfectly well what her friend was talking about. - Another oddity of the day.
- Do you think it's a coincidence or something more? - says the acrobat to her friend with undisguised interest.
- I don't care.
- Oh, come on. I know you're interested!
- Shh. You hear that?
At that moment the friends heard some quiet sounds outside the door. Listening to them, they fell silent, quickly realising that they were the princess's footsteps. Soon the door opened, and they saw Princess Azula, already without Yoaru.....
The girlfriends almost immediately pounced on her with questions. However, the girl waved them away, saying that this was not the time or place for such talk, and that she had met Tai Li for something else. They were in a small dressing room, the time was late, and sleeping in the circus was beneath the dignity of a princess. However, for Zula this was more of an excuse, she needed time to decide what to tell her friends and what to keep hidden behind a veil of secrecy.
Buying time, it was decided by changing the topic. Azula used all of her persuasion skills, persuading Tai Li to join her personal entourage on this adventure through the Fire Nation territories. The acrobat quickly succumbed to the princess' charisma. She would always have time to perform in the circus, but travelling, together with her friends and one spirit would not. Such a proposal will definitely not happen again in her life.
After discussing this question, the girls faced another. Namely, where to spend the night, for which they all had plans. After a little talk, they decided to go to the city, to look for a suitable hotel. It was not very difficult to find it, after half an hour of searching, they rented a room for three.
Having settled in the room, the girls did not think to go to bed. The two childhood friends were eager to find out the answers to their accumulated questions. Azula had nowhere to go, so she began to answer. Of course, she decided not to tell a lot of things, but she did not leave the girls without answers. The princess briefly told them who Yoaru was and how they met, but did not tell them about their conflicts. The listeners only realised that the two had common goals and that they had an extremely complicated relationship. After the short story, the girls still didn't want to sleep. The next topics of conversation revolved around their shared past, and what happened to whom during their separation.
At this time, Yoaru hid under the bed unnoticed by everyone and eavesdropped on every topic of conversation between the girls. Being intangible, he could walk freely through walls, ceilings, and other objects. Thanks to this ability, it was impossible to notice him unless he wished to.
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