27 The boring circus and the interesting Ty Lee

'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 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..." 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.'