Published July 26, 2013

Chapter Three
"Working and Searching"

Jinora stared at the tall circus tent before her. She wasn't awed as much as incredulous. "You have got to be kidding me." She tore her eyes away from the tent to look at the boy standing next to her. "This is your idea?"

"Yup," Skoochy confirmed.

"I'm not going to join the circus!"

"Of course not. Not permanently, at least. I'm talking just one night, so you can earn enough for your ticket home."

Jinora tilted her head, considering. "Is that normal?"

"For a circus … hard to say. Most of them—maybe all of them—live, travel, and work together. They put on the same performance in a bunch of different places."

Like nomads, Jinora thought to herself. Skoochy went on, "The acrobats are sick—they all have pentapox, or something like that—so they're missing a third act. That gives you an opening. A job opening."

"How do you know all this?"

"I saw their show yesterday."

Jinora looked at him strangely. "You can't afford to buy food, but you can buy tickets to the circus?"

"Who said I bought anything? There's this great invention called sneaking."

Jinora pursed her lips but said nothing. She was getting the feeling that breaches in rules were normal for Skoochy. Skoochy held up the tent's cloth door, and Jinora entered.

The circus looked the way she remembered it, with rows of seats surrounding a ring, and tent posts with nets and ladders attached to them. The only difference was that now there was no crowd of spectators, no performers in the ring. It was strangely quiet inside the cavernous tent.

Quiet, but not empty. A few adults were inside—they might have been performers, but they were out of costume now, so it was hard to tell who was a clown and who was a magician. Skoochy pointed to a man who was speaking to a young woman. "That's the ringmaster. He's the one who puts the show together."

"So what do I do?"

"I'll do the talking. Just follow my lead." Skoochy strode out of the entryway and right into the circus ring, with Jinora following a few feet behind. The ringmaster and the woman stopped talking when they saw them. "Afternoon, my good man," Skoochy said easily.

The good man's expression darkened when he recognized Skoochy. "You! Didn't I say not to show your face here again?"

"You didn't say I couldn't show a new face." Skoochy stepped aside to let him see Jinora.

"Who's she?"

"She is your temporary replacement for act three."

The man looked her over now. Jinora thought she saw something like recognition in his eyes. "You're Councilman Tenzin's daughter, ain't ya?"

Jinora nodded. Skoochy gestured to her. "This is one of the last airbenders. One of only four in the world!"

"Well, maybe five," Jinora corrected. "We don't know yet if my baby brother is an airbender …"

"You know, Kunyo," the young woman said, glancing at the ringmaster, "it's not a bad idea. If she had a decent routine, it might suffice for an act."

"Alright, kid," Kunyo said. "Show me what you can do."

Jinora was taken aback at being put on the spot. "Um … I thought maybe I'd learn the acrobats' routine or something …"

She faltered under Kyno's critical gaze. "That takes precision, timing, months or years of practice. Show me some airbending. Or anything you can do." The man stepped aside and gestured toward the center of the circus ring.

Jinora walked forward, feeling the three pairs of eyes watching her, waiting to be impressed. She'd never felt this kind of pressure before. Her mind nearly went blank, trying to think of a good technique she could show them. There were no airbending gates here, and she didn't have her glider … but Ikki and Meelo hadn't used theirs when they fought off the Equalists. That gave her a place to start.

"Okay. This is called the air scooter." Jinora whirled some air into a ball in her hands; as it expanded, she pushed it under her and balanced herself on it. Then it carried her around the floor, in circles and twists and swirls.

Skoochy spoke up quietly to the ringmaster. "Set that to music …"

"Will you be quiet?" Kunyo snapped. Skoochy fell silent when he realized that the ringmaster was actually watching Jinora, judging her performance.

Jinora let her air scooter dissipate, and then looked around at the cavernous tent, before glancing at the circus performers. "Can I try the trapeze?" she asked.

"If you think you can manage it," Kunyo conceded.

"We have safety harnesses," the woman started to say, but Jinora was already holding up her hands before her face, gauging the distance to the pole on the opposite side of the ring. There was a ladder on it, leading up to the small platform near the tent ceiling, with a net about ten feet below the platforms.

Jinora ran across the diameter of the ring, and continued running up the length of the pole, disregarding the ladder on the other side. Then she climbed up onto the platform, and looked down in time to see the adults gaping at her. She saw Skoochy's impressed expression, and grinned back proudly. She may not be able to run on water, but she could still run fast, even going on vertical surfaces.

The trapeze was set on a hook to keep it in place. Jinora removed it and braced her hands around it. The feeling almost reminded her of learning to hold on to her glider, except that this wood was round instead of straight-edged. She stepped back, pulling the trapeze as high as she could, before jumping forward off the platform.

It was actually rather like a playground swing, except much higher and with a longer distance. Jinora wasn't afraid; she took her time; she knew how to move her body through large spaces of air, with or without her bending. She swung back and forth, once, twice, getting the feel for it, before turning, switching her hands on the trapeze and facing the other way. She managed to keep her momentum, back and forth.

Then, she cheated a little. She used airbending, blowing a small gust out of her mouth to propel herself backwards, flipping herself up and over the bar. That was good; she was glad to know she could turn 360º, but she'd have to do more to impress a crowd. She decided to jump for the platform, once the trapeze was at its peak on that side …

Perhaps she waited too long before letting go; she had gone as far forward as she could, and the trapeze was falling back as she released her grip.

Skoochy and the acrobat girl gasped, but before they could even blink, Jinora sent a blast of air downward; it looked like she was leapfrogging on thin air; and somehow she jumped back onto the next platform. Skoochy laughed triumphantly, and even Ringmaster Kunyo looked impressed.

"That's good!" the young woman called up to her. "Why don't you come back down?"

Jinora obliged, using the air scooter again to get back to the ground. "You got anything else?" Kunyo asked.

"Um, I can make a mini tornado," Jinora offered.

Kunyo raised his eyebrows at her. "Just don't make a mess of things."

She started running around in circles, just inside the ring's circumference. Her pace was normal at first, but then she sped up, and within seconds she accelerated to a speed so fast they almost couldn't see her. But they could see the wind moving, and felt it on their faces. And then they saw the dirt and dust in the ring rising up into a funnel shape.

Jinora slowed down before the tornado could take on a life of its own or overturn any of the bleachers. She'd never tested how big or powerful she could make one, and this didn't seem like the best place to find out.

"If you have confetti, or something, I could blow it out onto the audience. I'm not kidding!" Feeling more confident now, she sucked in an almost inhuman amount of air, then blew it out in a gale the blew the others' hair back and knocked off Skoochy's hat.

The boy retrieved his hat from the bleachers and came back to stand next to the adults. "So what do you say?" he asked as Jinora came back. "She's got talent, she's one of the last of her kind, and she doesn't even need a costume!"

Kunyo had a strange expression on his face. He seemed pleased with Jinora, but still suspicious of Skoochy. He looked between the two of them, the high-standing prodigy and the scruffy street urchin. "What's your case with this girl? Are you taking what she earns?"

"No," Skoochy and Jinora said at the same time. They looked at each other; Skoochy was slightly surprised, but looked grateful.

"Skoochy just had the idea," Jinora explained. "I need to earn money."

Kunyo folded his arms, finally nodding in consent. "Alright, kid, you're hired."

Jinora's mouth dropped open in a smile. Then she remembered her manners and bowed. "Thank you."

Then she turned to Skoochy, squealing in a way reminiscent of Ikki, clasping her hands against her chest in excitement. "Yes! My very first job!"

"Way to go." Skoochy held up a clenched fist. Jinora jumped back, looking startled. He blinked at her reaction. "What?"

"I thought you were going to hit me," she said without thinking.

"No!" Skoochy laughed. "Put your fist out."

Jinora did so, and Skoochy knocked his fist against hers. "It's called a 'brofist'," Skoochy explained.

"Is that like a high-five?"

He grinned. "It's much cooler."

Jinora couldn't help smiling back. It gave her a good, almost rebellious feeling to be called cool. And having her bending praised—especially by someone who was used to seeing the strange and impressive—made her more proud than she'd felt in a long time.

"Okay, you go on with the show, and I'll keep looking for your friends. I'll meet you back here at the end of the show."

Jinora was slightly taken aback. Skoochy was the one who had found her this job, and he was the only person she knew here. But, what he said made sense; they still needed to find her siblings and their baby-sitters, if they could.

Pabu rubbed up against her ankle. She bent down to scoop him up. "You should take Pabu; maybe he can help find the others." Jinora stroked the Fire Ferret's fur. "Keep Skoochy out of trouble, okay? And find Ikki and Meelo!"

Pabu mewed and climbed up Skoochy's outstretched arm, perching on his shoulders. The boy saluted and ran toward the door-flap. "See ya!"

Jinora was rather sorry to see him go. But then the young woman put a hand on her shoulder. "My name's Jadani. I'm Kunyo's assistant, and the acrobats' choreographer. Why don't we figure out a routine for you?"

"Sure."

Jadani took a step back, studying Jinora. "You can keep your uniform, I suppose. I have some makeup you can borrow.

This caught Jinora off guard. "Makeup? But—I'm just a kid." Actually, her family's monastic lifestyle wouldn't have allowed her to use it even as an adult, but she didn't need to mention that.

"The bright lights will make it hard for everyone to see your face clearly. We want the whole audience to see that smile."

"Oh." Said smile became nervous, as Jinora wondered, with a little apprehension, what Skoochy had gotten her into.

Korra worried more with every hour that passed. It had been late morning when they made the trip to the mainland. It was after noon now; they could hear the bells on Avatar Aang Memorial Island signal the time with each hour.

"If we don't find them in another twenty minutes," Mako said finally, "we'll have to go to the police."

Korra was unhappy about this, but she knew he was right. It was the responsible thing to do. If only it wasn't so hard for her to admit mistakes …

"Hold the phone," Bolin said, pointing to small throng of people gathered on the corner of a side street. From their height on Naga, he could see it was some kind of cart, and the man next to it was making something. "I see balloon animals!"

"Bolin, this is not the time," Mako started to say, just before a child's shriek sounded over the crowd.

"That sounds like Ikki!" Korra got down from Naga and hurried in the direction of the laughter, with Bolin and Mako close on her heels. They pushed their way over to the cart, where they found a group of children, including Ikki and Meelo. "Guys! You're okay!"

Ikki and Meelo brightened up when they saw the teenagers. "Korra, look at what we made!" Meelo said, holding up two white balloon animals. One of them had long arms that might have been wings, and the other had six legs.

"It's a flying lemur! And this one's a sky bison! I made them myself." Ikki drew herself up, beaming with pride.

Bolin took the balloon bison and held it up. "Wow. This is impressive," he complimented. "Seriously."

"You guys shouldn't have run off like that, we've been looking everywhere for you!" Korra frowned at the two of them. "Where's Jinora?"

Ikki's happy expression faded quickly. "We thought she was still with you." She paused. "Oh, and Pabu's missing too."

"Oh," Bolin said. "Well, if they're with each other, they should be okay. Right?" He looked to Mako and Korra, as if expecting some agreement or reassurance.

"Jinora's smart," Korra said. "What would she do if she were lost?"

Mako supplied an answer. "She'd go to the police for help … or she'd try to look for us. Like, where we said we'd be going."

"Who thinks she'd head for the library?" Bolin volunteered.

"She would," Korra conceded. "And there's also the circus."

"We're still going to see that, right?" Ikki asked, looking between each of the teenagers.

"I can't promise we'll do anything until we find your sister," Korra said. Ikki pouted.

"Should we split up?" Bolin suggested.

"No," Mako said, "we can't risk losing each other again. We stick together."

"That'll take longer," Korra said grudgingly, "but, okay."

Mako followed her up onto Naga's saddle. "The library's closer; we'll check there first. Then we'll let the police know that she needs to be found."

Bolin reached to help the two airbenders up, but they gave got up on their own with airbending-enhanced jumps. He rolled his eyes and then took climbed onto the back of the saddle, taking care not to fall off or squish Meelo between him and Mako.

Two down, one to go.

Author's Note: Sorry this update took so long! I'm actually kind of reassured knowing that the new season is scheduled for September, that gives me more time to finish this story.

I don't really do original characters, but a couple were necessary to make this chapter possible, and I gave them names to simplify how I refer to them.

I looked up the Avatar Wiki page on airbending to learn more about the techniques described here. In a section on Enhanced Speed, it says airbenders can run on vertical surfaces (as we've seen Aang do) "by generating a wind current behind themselves to propel themselves forward." They can also "run swiftly by decreasing air resistance around them." And, to support Jinora's attempt in the previous chapter, "A master airbender can use this technique to briefly run across water."

Disclaimer: I will humbly admit that the circus idea was inspired by Grasspaw's fan fiction "Of Circus Tricks and Courageous Acts." The "brofist" exchange is borrowed from "LOK: Skoochy" by TigJones on DeviantArt.