========= 26 - So you also know the word "cy" ==========
To be honest, I had never thought about what the circus looked like behind the scenes. The vicissitudes of the lives of all these clowns, circus performers and animal trainers interested me no more than those of any other people, but now I was looking at them so closely, as if I were one of the participants in the circus performances, seeing how tired jugglers stretched their stiff arms; how tigers and other animals were locked back in their cages, where they would be forgotten until the next performance or training session; and how the freaks, that is, people with certain abnormalities, went off to drink around the nearest corner. To wet their cracked egos, so to speak.
Just looking at where I was sitting — a small bench near the ringmaster's tent — I could tell that I would soon have to become one of them. All it took was to show your unusual abilities, and it didn't matter what they were, whether it was walking on your hands or blowing your nose with huge snot - the travelling circus was used to hiring strangers, so they quickly tested your talents and, if necessary, discussed the candidate with the Ringmaster - the head of the circus. That's exactly what happened now: I was eavesdropping on people talking about my incredible talents inside the tent, while a slightly different scene was unfolding before my eyes.
"Wow, Butch, your muscles are really shining today!" I noticed a girl returning from a walk, wearing a red and pink outfit with an open waist. She was flitting around the other workers, giving their lives meaning with her beautiful smile.
"You like it, Tai Li? You've rubbed yourself with oil to shine in the sun, the next performance will be spectacular!" The chief strongman of the place flexed his muscles, making the girl giggle. It was exaggerated and didn't make any real impression. She then approached the tiger cage, where, after making sure no one was looking, she took out a couple of pieces of meat, possibly stolen, and fed the animals. Her actions were fuelled by some kind of chaos, or maybe it was just a restless energy that wouldn't let her sit still.
"So, Mister... just Monk, right? - At that moment, a man dressed in a red doublet with grey hair and a top hat on his head, with a distinctive gold badge, came out of the tent. "You're hired. Since you don't want to tell us your name, we'll use a pseudonym. You will be called Ringmaster, and starting tomorrow, you will participate in strength acts involving bending, as well as perform a show with your girlfriend.
My fox hissed menacingly, causing the man to move away warily.
"Make sure she doesn't bite any of the guests, or we'll put a muzzle on her! She may have shown remarkable talent, but we're here to entertain guests, not treat rabies.
"Everything will be fine, she doesn't bite," I said, restraining the angry fox, for whom Ringmaster's words were a deep insult. Finally, the man waved his hand at us and left, saying that an assistant would find me in an hour to rehearse the acts. Now there was a free moment of awkwardness, and I could go anywhere! But as soon as I turned around, I saw Tai Lee standing right in front of me. She innocently put her hands behind her back, tilted her head up to get a better look at me, and smiled cheerfully.
"Hi. I heard you're new here? That's cool, my name is Tai Li, what's yours? What can you do? Oh, what a beautiful fox, is it yours? What can it do? - A barrage of questions poured out faster than her fists during a beating of some guards. Even Afka, who had hidden her snout behind her paws and assumed a state of complete ignorance, was taken aback by her. "Oh, sorry, you must be confused, I'm just happy to see a newcomer who breaks up the monotony."
And I was thinking how to approach her to start a conversation. But considering her character, it would be difficult to keep up with her. Or maybe not, if I remember Anubis' words and the fact that she simply dynamites boring people. No mumbling, no lecturing, no showing off, in short, no fucking around. She won't be impressed by anything I show her. I admit, it was difficult to even comprehend, as if her existence went against my nature... it's hard to accept, but easy to understand. If such a young lady grew up with Azula, she must have seen fuck-ups on a cosmic scale, developed a habit, so to speak.
"Hmm... Yes. My pseudonym is Monk. I perform magic tricks. My name is Smart Snort," I quickly structured the flow of her questions, making her freeze for a second. Quick answers to keep her from getting bored, followed by something to interest her... and then another question. Anubis said that it was useless to show off, but no one said anything about being intriguing and a little mysterious, right? This is a departure from his rules, which means it might help. "Would you like to see a magic trick?"
"Of course!" She quickly stood on her tiptoes and opened her curious eyes. At that moment, I turned my back to her, closed my eyes with a cloth I took from my pocket, and...
"Try to touch my neck.
SHHH*
I had barely finished speaking when the girl's hand shot towards me. It was the reaction of a snake or a mongoose, and her fingers were like fangs, capable of incapacitating a person with a single touch. There was a single heartbeat... and at that moment I moved my head to the side, allowing her hand to fly past me. In the blink of an eye, Tai Li's heart slowed down, along with her breathing. She tilted her head in confusion and tried to strike again, and then again, until our movements turned into some kind of dance. But it didn't last long before I started to feel dizzy. I had to turn around and grab her hands. Well, almost... Showing a wild reaction, she pulled her hands away just before I could grab them.
"Oops. Heh heh, I've never encountered such nimble hands before, it was a good warm-up for my neck," I said, taking off the bandage and wiping the sweat from her forehead.
"That's... amazing! Tell me, what's your secret? Do you have eyes in the back of your head?" She walked around me as seriously as she could and peered at my head.
"A magician never reveals his secrets... figure it out for yourself.
That's how Tai Li was hooked, by something called "interest." Could she have thought of me as some kind of strange magician? Absolutely not, at this point in time, sensory perception is completely unknown to anyone, and it would be simply impossible to guess that I am an earth mage. However... perhaps I overestimated myself.
Until the next day, this young lady literally wouldn't leave me alone: when they came for me to start rehearsing my act, Tai Li hung around nearby and tried to touch my neck; when I went to the toilet, I had to fight off Tai Li, who kept jumping out from around corners; when I was getting to know the other circus performers, I had to fend her off at the same time; even when it was time to go to bed in a specially designated communal tent where all the men and even the fire magicians slept, I wrapped my neck in my Afka, and even then I had to fight off Tai Li's night-time raids a couple of times. I even woke up only because someone tried to assassinate me.
"Enough already? Realising the problem too late, I rubbed my sleepy eyes. Standing literally in front of a basin of water and brushing my teeth, I glanced back at this meticulous, petty... beast.
"I really want to understand your secret! Maybe you just have abnormal hearing? - She wasn't wrong, actually. My hearing is really excellent, so it was difficult to even fall asleep in a tent with snoring men. But you didn't quite get it," "In that case, you wouldn't have noticed my attack from above. And if you had eyes in the back of your head, an attack in a dark toilet would have worked best.
"Listen, maybe you'd like to show me your interesting moves?
"Or maybe you can feel the air vibrations with your hair? But sometimes I hit so hard that I don't create any air.
"Okay... it's my first day," I rolled my eyes and headed into the already crowded tent where the performances were taking place, quickly focusing on the task at hand. If I want them to let me work, I have to prove myself a professional! I was called to perform right after the "strongest man" bent another horseshoe.
"That was the power of pure rage, the strongest barbarian in the whole district! But now behold the power of calmness, this monk travelled the world in search of harmony and learned to control his emotions! He subdued the very power of qi! The arena inspector who called me out said exactly what I wanted him to say. Smiling quietly, I glanced at the surprised Tai Li and showed her what I was really capable of. Taking the piece of rebar, which was as thick as several fingers, I tensed my muscles and, without a drop of magic, began to bend it with the strength of my muscles alone.
My face was completely calm, my hands did not tremble, they were in complete control of my body, only my muscles were bulging, which was not visible under my baggy clothes. When the rebar turned into a ram's horn, I was handed a thick chain, which I tore in half. The last trick in the act required me to demonstrate the strength of my fingers... and here I really had to demonstrate the magic of metal. Again, it was pointless to worry about my safety; I am an unlucky person, but here it was even more pointless, as the world still considered this direction impossible. When I crumpled a thick sheet of metal, leaving a clear imprint of my palms on it, it really became a manifestation of strength for everyone.
The hall erupted in applause, I was praised... but it was nothing compared to the reaction of Tai Li, whose eyes were wide with disbelief. Further tricks with Afka only confirmed my status as the circus's new attraction: this vicious ball of fur, who bit me after I said I would have to perform in the circus, finally showed her intelligence. First, she added numbers together, picking up the correct number cards with her teeth, then she stacked rings into a pyramid, a toy from my world, and finally she completely won over the audience when I handed her a book and she began to snort meaningfully as she read it. If only they knew what Afka was really saying...
"Idiots, everyone in this room is a real moron! What's so great about the spirit of knowledge being smarter than every person in this place? It physically hurts me to pretend to be a regular circus fox. I swear by my whiskers, Dagoth, you will regret this day. All of you who are giggling so sweetly will pay for laughing at me.
"Look how indignant she is, she obviously didn't like the plot twist in this book! Well, if anyone deserved to be made fun of, it was Afka, and I had no problem with that, so Tai Li deservedly watched it all with wide eyes. It took me only two days to completely capture her attention.
However, after the performance, I was more tired than entertained. When it was over, I went to my back room, which was nothing more than a space covered with rags, to tidy myself up and come to terms with the fox. My head hurt quite a bit, because a day of constant sensory overload was still affecting my consciousness, and my muscles needed rest. Undressing, I quietly wiped the sweat from my body.
Shush-shush-shush*
At the same time, someone was sneaking silently behind the tent, remaining completely unnoticed. A girl with a sly look crawled under the tent and, peeking inside, saw the bare back of the new circus performer. At that moment, her eyes widened — everything from the man's tailbone to his shoulders was covered in scars. When he turned around, revealing his six-pack, there were just as many terrible marks on his chest, some of which were even through-and-through wounds that could have killed him!
"Wow..." Tai Li blinked, and Dagoth, standing with his eyes half-closed, immediately jerked his head away when he met her gaze. "Those scars... So your little fox isn't as submissive as everyone else thinks?"
Making her way inside, Tai Li innocently put her hands behind her back and began to look at the pumped-up body with no interest whatsoever. Despite her bubbling youth, none of this impressed her; her interest lay elsewhere.
"So your secret is in your ability to interact with chi? Heh heh, I've figured it out! - She jumped up and down happily and even stood on her hands! - Do you want me to tell you my secret? I know something about chi too.
========== 27 - The smell of burning ==========
In a cramped room hung with rags, furnished only with a small table, a basin of water, and a couple of cupboards, Tai Li and I sat facing each other, not taking our eyes off each other and, in the girl's case, smiling a little. Confessing something as mysterious as qi should have been done in a more private setting, and certainly not after only two days of talking... but only Afka knows how difficult this moment was for me: confessing that I possessed qi was not really a confession at all. I couldn't lie, but to intrigue Tai Li, I had to resort to a trick: I started by asking the arena inspector to make a mysterious statement about my qi abilities — which wasn't difficult: the more secrets, the more interesting; and I finished by making up details, because I couldn't seriously tell a qi blocker master that qi could be used to make oneself stronger. That's not true! Even though this master was only thirteen years old, he must have known more about the subject than I did, so I... again, did not reveal my secrets. To any attack or tricky question, I responded only with vague images, wise words from books, and simple bullshit. Tai Li looked at me with a slight squint, trying to understand this mystery, or perhaps driving herself even deeper into delusion. It was much easier to do that than to believe in the real magic of metal.
On the other hand, I was surprised by Tai Li's confession — I didn't believe that she was a simpleton with a very naive view of the world; rather, it was only partially true. She had been friends with Azula since childhood and was even her comrade-in-arms. There was no doubt that they had fought together: they worked too well together to capture the Avatar and were excellent in battle. So here I am, facing a person who may have carried out a couple of secret missions alongside the princess of the Fire Nation, a real spy... yet intimidated by Azula herself and not particularly fond of her.
"I understand, I understand everything. You somehow stimulated your chi points to build muscle," she convinced herself, pointing at me as if she had found the answer. I didn't answer directly, but made her believe in the truth of her assumptions by saying that I was a doctor who knew something about the structure of the body. "Heh heh, and I know how to block the flow of chi in another person's body. It's a special martial art against mages and ordinary people. A touch is enough to numb a person's arm or other part of the body. Want me to show you?
Tai Li glanced quickly at my hand, smiling intrigued. And this... was a good opportunity to test the principle of qi blocking. Slowly, as if exposing a part of my body to a butcher's axe, I raised my arm and allowed Tai Li to touch my forearm with her fingers, where I knew one of the important points was located. The girl looked as if she didn't want to hurt me, so she just poked my arm gently, causing it to relax and drop. I instantly realised that access to the limb was blocked; it was impossible to channel even the slightest bit of magical energy, no matter how hard I tried. But a second before that happened, I felt a sharp rush of foreign qi, similar to how magicians take control of another element. Tai Li had just hit me with the full intention of subjugating me.
Shuh* Khruh*
I quickly knocked the stool out from under me and took a step back, not out of fear, but rather out of a natural reaction of willpower to the attempt to suppress me. My hand remained hanging in the air, while the girl innocently scratched the back of her head.
"Don't be afraid, it's temporary. I guess you didn't know you could do that? "It was terrible art. Not in terms of effectiveness, but only from the magician's point of view. It was pure anti-magic, the only problem with it was that you had to be close to your target. In a normal fight, they would never use it on me, they couldn't. But the danger... was obvious. "Yeah," I said, calming my body, massaging the area and carefully putting the stool back in its place. "That's an amazing skill, you must have studied it for a long time.
"Heh heh," the girl turned towards the exit of the tent. There was noise coming from there, probably another performance. "How about we go somewhere to eat?"
"Oh..." I smiled, but then my gaze caught Afka's. She was sitting at the table, staring intently at me, reminding me of the principle of behaviour that had to be followed in order to feel love for the world. "Sorry, I'm fasting, I can't eat anything. But I'd love to go for a walk."
"So, you... - the girl opened her eyes wide, as if she had realised some great secret. We both froze, like prey and predator, and a heavy atmosphere descended on the tent," - Are you really a monk? How cool!
***
The travelling circus was a source of constant fun and various amusing situations, and not only for the visitors. To my surprise, the local residents were very positive towards the performers from the fire tribe: after the show, children ran up to their favourite actors, shook their hands or hung on their shoulders, while adults asked them to repeat some interesting tricks, simply to brighten up their dull everyday lives.
"Why did you decide to join the circus?" she asked, eating a sweet apple. "I like to collect different people's answers.
"Hmm," he frowned slightly, trying to come up with an answer and not lie. "Probably wandered in here looking for something valuable. Not in a material sense."
"I understand," she replied quickly, causing me to distrust her. "Because of all this war, there are too few reasons to really have fun, so it feels like you belong to something bigger when you can just take it upon yourself to cheer up the sad people in the colony. The ringmaster also likes to lighten the oppressive atmosphere of war.
Wandering between the stalls selling cotton candy and caramel apples, Tai Li looked with surprising depth at the surrounding residents and even the guards, who, despite the need to do their jobs, were engaging in cheerful conversation with the circus performers and ordinary people. And Tai Li, just for fun, showed off her excellent flexibility and figure.
"Uncle, can you show us how you lift something heavy?!" While walking around the grounds, a family with a small child approached us, their eyes expressing genuine admiration and joy. It became clear that this was the fruit of her newfound popularity. Tai Lee, walking nearby, smiled broadly, waiting for a reaction, so I had to look around, find two 50-litre barrels filled to the brim with water, and lift them off the ground. In the end, I picked up the little boy and put him on one of the barrels. "Hehe, how high!
"You'll eat well and grow up just like me.
"But we don't have much money for food. Mummy and Daddy saved up for a long time to take us to the circus today.
Not really getting into the mood, the child cheerfully replied. His parents, in turn, were embarrassed and made it clear that he should talk less from now on.
After taking the child for a ride to get our money's worth out of the circus, we continued our walk with Tai Li, resuming our jokes and simply asking each other about things that interested us.
"By the way, where are you from? I was born in the land of fire, where knowledge of qi points is quite widespread, and I was taught the art itself by one of the masters, although he himself came from another place. You must have met some cool teacher too, right?
"I'm from this continent. I decided to travel and study the works of various gurus to achieve enlightenment. I learned more from books than from masters, so I don't have much basic knowledge, and I would be happy to learn from someone... Actually, I'm surprised that there are such masters. Can you tell me more?
"Well... I'm embarrassed to say this, because others probably won't understand, but..." Tai looked around to make sure no one was listening, then moved closer and whispered. As if I'm the only one who wouldn't dare because of such information," she whispered. "I studied under a master of some water tribe. He didn't say where he was from, but he was dressed all in blue and moved very nimbly, even despite his advanced age. It seems he also had some kind of influence over his body.
"A master who can block chi? - I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. As far as I remember, the canon didn't explain where Tai Lee got her skills from, why among all the elite warriors of the Fire Nation, including non-mages, there were no other practitioners of such an amazing art? Anyone would find it useful to have such an anti-magician in their squad, but there were no separate platoons with such people in the army, so it turned out that she had learned from someone separate, a very secretive person. This was very interesting information.
I wanted to blurt out right away that I wanted her to be my teacher, but that could have caused a completely opposite reaction: she didn't ask me for secrets on how to become stronger through qi. It would be foolish to think that I had become a good friend to her — Tai Li was like that with everyone, her kindness extended to everyone. I was just a small exception who had been entrusted with a bigger secret, and that attention could be lost very quickly, simply by falling out of her circle of interest. Anubis said that trust had to be earned gradually.
"Hey," at that moment, a whole crowd of guards in red iron armour stopped in front of us. About eight men looked at us with a certain squint, "You're the strong man who bends steel bars as if they were rope, right? Can you show us something else?"
In any case, I wasn't at war, so there was no need to rush. Keeping myself in check, entertaining myself and showing that I wasn't a grumpy old man, I was already making a name for myself.
A few days later, the circus was ready to move on to another place. One week was enough to raise enough money and entertain people, then the tents were completely dismantled, the belongings were loaded onto carts, and we set off for the next settlement on the backs of circus ducks and bears.
I continued to adhere to the correct principles of behaviour: I followed a diet and fasted, and meditated a lot to supposedly improve the quality of my enlightenment. This is where my pacifism played a major role, because grief, a heavy feeling that permeated my mind like fuel oil, could have blocked my emotions. I hadn't killed or lost anyone, and the lightness in my heart allowed me to take huge steps towards the fourth chakra. And also to write down details for Wang Shi Tong.
"Detail number seven: it is foolish to think that the absence of grief will greatly influence the opening of the chakra; you must not regret your actions," I muttered under my breath, adding to Laghima's notes, when I suddenly felt someone pull up beside me. Tai Li, who was riding with me in the carriage, glanced at the open notebook and began to read it brazenly.
"What is this? Your personal diary? Oh... just monastic notes," she said, quickly losing interest and turning away boredly. Yes, that was the reason why I didn't hide my notes: there was nothing secret in them. Just information about spiritual guidance, I wouldn't even mind if someone picked them up and read them. "When will we get there? It's so boring."
"Hmm... wait, do you smell that?" However, at that moment, everything changed. Frowning, I caught a strange smell of burning in the air. At the same moment, the other people began to react, the circus performers in the neighbouring carriages twitched their noses and looked in the direction our procession was heading. Soon we saw clouds of black smoke rising into the air.
Our destination was ablaze with bright flames...