A feminine face coalesces from mists that seem to stretch on forever, her eyes glow a faint blue against the background of an unmoving porcelain white mask. "The noble fat man, Iroh, son of Azulon has pleased me greatly." Her melodious voice proclaimed, echoing through the void.
"He uses his gift to defend life, to promote peace and balance regardless of whom it is which disturbs that balance. Most importantly of all, he defended one of our own; the incarnation of Moon made flesh and held his fellow fire benders back to give the time needed for her rebirth."
Towering above her, four green eyes blazed into life, illuminating the fog as it parted in front of its colossal craggy face. "The blaze amongst the lotus has done very well for himself indeed," its resonating voice boomed, cacophonous as an avalanche, "he earns favour before the stone as well, Bowu. His loyalty to the son of his brother is commendable, possibly misplaced though it might be. He brings power and wisdom, a rare combination indeed, especially for a mortal."
"And the brewed leaves! Don't forget the lovely tasty delicious amazing tasty brewed leaves!" An odd hairless creature shouted from atop the giant's shoulder, his dancing form looking for the entire world like a demented hairless flying lemur, his eyes shining with a mirthful yellow tint.
"You said 'tasty' twice there, Nian." The giant chided, sounding slightly amused with his hyperactive passenger.
"It's super tasty, Luanshi! Can you not smell its magnificence every time he boils a cup? Tay-ay-yay-STY!" Nian stopped his capering for a moment just so he could hug himself just at the thought of capturing the delectable steam from Iroh's cups.
"Yes," Bowu purred, her face unmoving despite her obviously bemused tone, "we must not forget that marvelous vice of his, but that is not what brings me here today; I wish to grant this mortal a boon, an indulgence if you must, however, I will likely need your assistance." "What boon would this be Keeper of Mist?" the rumbling, resonant voice of the colossal Luanshi queried, using his fellow spirit's formal title, "what would you desire to grant this favoured one amongst mortals?" "Ooh! A wiiish!" The ecstatic shriek of the impish Nian came, "A wishwish wish-wish WIIISH!" the cavorting was audible, even when the demented dancer was barely visible from atop his perch. "Uhhh..." It paused in its dance, "what wish we give the fleshling?" The sounds of two exasperated groans echoed through the mists. "That is a very good question," grumbled the ephemeral spirit of the mists, "do either of you two have any idea? Hm mm..." she hummed as she thought to herself.
"Why not make the wish something simple?" Carefully reasoned the largest of the three, "Let's say, the first wish that passes the mortal's lips that we have the power to grant. I will most certainly add some of my own might to this worthy cause."
"You would lend your power for my boon?" the lovely voice was shocked. "What an excellent notion, it gives the mortal a little control, even if he does not know it; gives us a direction to give him something he wants, and adds just enough mischief to give us some entertainment." She was all but chuckling with glee at the thought of something new and interesting to see and do.
"Me help too! Me help too!" the impish one called out. "You give wish direction, he gives wish much power, me give wish SPIN! Lovely spiiin spin-spinspinspin spin! Hehe... Spin..."
As the smallest one started his dance again, the other two spirits did not know whether to hang their heads in shame or start laughing at his antics. "What, pray tell," the giant inquired bemusedly, "do you mean by ah, spin"
"Wish is like a ball," the reedy voice of the imp chortled, "We give power to make wish bounce far, we use aim to make wish hit the right target, but spin! Lovely lovely spin make wish change on own, give wish life of its own, make wish bouncy and FUN! Fuuuun! Funfunfun-funfun FUN!"
"That is all well and good," the giant began, "but wha..."
"SSHH!" the imp stopped dancing to interrupt. "Me smell fun coming! Lookie-look at scrying pool!"
The three huddled around a nearby mirror-like pool, looking to see what the pesky little creature had 'smelt' with that stubby little nose of his.
Meanwhile, in the hills east of Gaipan, an old man with a grey three prong beard and his nephew, significantly less bald though greatly scarred across the left side of his face, slogged down the muddy trail that marks one of the highland paths to the Serpent's Pass and beyond that, the great Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se.
"Uncle, something bothers me." the younger grumbled as he walked slightly ahead of his more sedate relative.
"Zuko, great many things could be said to bother you, perhaps we should stop and make some tea so we can talk it over." Iroh chuckled amiably, already reaching for the tin teapot tied to the side of his pack.
"Not the time, Uncle. I just want to know; why do you follow me? I know you have no interest in capturing the Avatar. You were never even officially exiled. So why? Why do you follow me? What is it you are after?"
"You are interesting to follow, Zuko. Very entertaining for an old man like me, but you are right, there is something I would rather be doing, though guess you could say that I do that even now as we are travelling. I am looking for a nice place to settle down for my remaining years. Maybe open a little tea shop and play some Pai Sho while I am at it." Iroh breaks into a grin at the thought of playing Pai Sho every day.
Zuko rolls his eyes at this. His dotty old Uncle Iroh's love for tea and Pai Sho were almost great enough to eclipse his previous fame as the General Iroh, the Dragon of the West, the first General to have ever breached the walls of the very city they were headed for.
"I just wish," his uncle continued to ramble, unaware of the three spirits' ethereal grins widening as they leaned closer, the better to hear his desire, "that I could find somewhere like that, someplace nice where they have never heard of the Dreaded General Iroh, where I could find some peace and could spend my days as I choose. Is that so much to ask?"
Three spirits their gazes nearby, yet their 'bodies' oh so far away cheered, unheard by the boy and his uncle. Together they began a chant, casting their spell to give Iroh his wish, or at least the best that they could manage...
Trudging on, Zuko didn't even register the lack of noise behind him as Iroh faded out of sight and away from that plane of existence.
"*Sigh* It sounds nice Uncle, nice, but not for me. You do realize how hard it is going to be to find a village like that in the Earth Na..." looking over his shoulder, Zuko trailed off.
Behind him, there was no one. Iroh had disappeared. Retracing his steps cautiously, he retraced his steps a few dozen paces, only to find that his uncle's footprints just ended abruptly. No sign of a struggle, no sign of his having left the path for a tea break, nothing.
"Uncle?" Zuko called out, on guard against an ambush of some kind, or maybe some sort of Earth bender trap.
Seeing and hearing no one nearby, he called out again, louder this time, hoping it was just some kind of silly prank on his elder's part. "Uncle!"
"UNCLE?!"
With a clap of thunder, a small hole rent itself in the air, startling the beings nearby to no end, many of them panicking and bolting for cover in fright.
The hole sits there a moment, before widening and firing out a large spinning brown and green ball as if from a cannon with a noise that sounded distinctly like a belch before shrinking back in on itself and finally vanishing from sight.
The ball hits the fish pond with a clatter, skipping once, twice and hitting a blackberry bush on the lake's shore with a resounding crash and clatter before resolving into a pair of legs hanging limply from one side of the shrubbery.
A grey pony nearby, somewhat more used to sudden loud noises than most of the others in the park stands from where she had been sitting on the grass and approaches the bush, eyeing the strange legs carefully before parting the bush with her hooves to look inside.
She looks, then pulls her head out to blink and shake her head in bewilderment for a moment before taking a second look just to prove that she wasn't hallucinating. Scanning the faces of the ponies in the park, she spots a familiar face and is reminded of a particular and somewhat annoying quirk.
"Oh Lyra!" she called out, "I think this needs a little of your expertise on the matter, and I'm not talking about your harp!"
"What are you talking about Octavia? I play the lyre, not the ha ha hah..." Lyra's annoyed voice trails off as she looks into the bush that is being held open by the cellist. Her jaw drops and her eyes widen even as they start to go glassy as she tries to process the sight before her.
Octavia smirks at the suddenly catatonic minty green unicorn before turning back to the now approaching crowd. "Can I get a couple of unicorns to help get this creature out of the bush? It looks like he needs some assistance to get out of there and it doesn't seem like Lyra will be able to help."
Stepping forward, several unicorns coordinated to pry the bush apart and levitate the thoroughly scratched and bruised human out and onto the grass. Octavia eyeballs the human again before looking at the freshly hesitant crowd and the statue-like form of Lyra, still stuck unmoving in front of the bush. Octavia massages her nose with a hoof, grumbling to herself that she just knows she is going to regret this, she kneels down and noses the human over her head and neck to rest on her back. Grimacing at his weight, she starts a steady trot towards the hospital and medical treatment.
"You better be friendly," Octavia groused as the crowd parted before her, shying away from contact with Iroh, "because you are certainly not light... ugh!"
On an ethereal plane slightly to the left of Equestria, two spirits glared down at their excitable counterpart, their displeasure with the little imp readily apparent.
"Uhhh..." Niam stammered as his large ears drooping in embarrassment. He held up a claw, his thumb and fore claw a few millimetres apart "Too much spin?"