Chapter 29: The Acrobat
On a yearlong tour around the world, the Fire Nation Circus set up shop next to Minara in the eastern Earth Kingdom. Last seen near Omashu and enjoyed by the troops stationed there, the carnival tents were a welcome sight by civilians that made their home around the military. Normally the circus only stayed in one place for two weeks, but generous donations by royal siblings had extended that time to a month. All of the performers knew that the money was just a bribe to keep the circus in place, allowing Prince Zuko and Princess Azula to see an old friend of theirs more often.
When all of the tents were set up and the attractions arranged properly the circus opened to the public. Civilians flooded into the circus, while soldiers had to draw lots for turns to attend without leaving the base undermanned. Morale among the troops skyrocketed as they enjoyed the shows and exhibits that the circus provided, many buying souvenirs to send to their families back home. In the crowds the distinction between civilians and off-duty soldiers disappeared, as everyone equally appreciated the entertainment.
Aang was having his best day ever, gleefully moving from one exhibit to another. He loved the exotic animal collection, most of the rare species in the world gathered in one place. Everything from lemur-lions to termite-tigers to bat-bears was on display, as well as an odd red furred ferret Aang had never heard of before. After seeing a polar bear-dog Aang walked outside into the dirt streets between tents, while Zuko and Azula followed behind him.
"This place is awesome!" Aang said, trying to decide where to go next. In the middle of the circus he saw the largest tent, so big that it could hide several buildings inside. Aang looked back to Zuko and Azula, while pointing at the tent. "Let's see what's in there!"
Starting to get out of breath from following Aang's excited pace, Zuko leaned against a bench to rest for a moment. "Does he ever tire out?" Zuko questioned.
"Nope," Azula answered, watching the Air Nomad run ahead. A glance around found Mai walked towards her, carrying a bag of fire flakes.
Casually snacking as she walked Mai stopped in front of Zuko. "Want some?" Mai asked, offering the bag to Zuko.
"Sure," Zuko said, taking a handful of fire flakes. The spicy taste was relatively weak in the blend used by circus cooks, requiring several mouthfuls before Zuko felt any spicy heat.
Azula started walking again before she could lose sight of Aang. "We better catch up to him," she suggested.
In front of the large tent was a long line of people waiting to get inside, wanting to see the acrobatic show. On sight Zuko and Azula were let in with Mai and Aang, as royalty never had to wait in line. They got the best seats in the house, up close to the stage in the center and elevated above the ground for a higher view. A few soldiers were nearby but kept a discreet distance from Aang, watching him while posing as Zuko's bodyguards.
Once the show was ready to begin the people from outside were allowed to enter, quickly filling every last seat. A low stage was in the center of the tent, with a safety net above it in case of an accident. One tightrope spanned the space above the net, along with several rope swings for the performers. Platforms at both ends of the tightrope had a dozen performers in bright pink color, honored to entertain the royal siblings.
In the center of the stage the elderly circus master addressed the audience. "Ladies, Gentlemen and children of all ages, I present to you, The Aerial Acrobats!"
With all the attention on the show, the performers started with a routine warm-up. They swung on the rope swings halfway across the stage, letting go in midair and crossing paths before grabbing onto the opposite swing. Next they doubled the act, swinging in pairs with one performer held on by the other and thrown across to be caught by another still in motion. A pair of performers ran on the tightrope from opposite ends and jumped off at the middle, diving down before others on the swings caught their feet.
At the top of the tent a teenage girl dropped in through a hole in the fabric, making her grand entrance. Wearing a gold tiara over her long brown hair, she dropped head first into the performance below. She grabbed the tightrope and stretched it halfway to the net before springing back up. Back in the air she took hold of one of the ropes suspending a swing, letting it spin around the tent.
Azula recognized the newest performer immediately, seeing her long brown braid. "There she is!" Azula said, pointing upward.
"Ty Lee," Zuko said, glad to see her again after so long.
Everyone watched Ty Lee let go and fall towards the net, seemingly with nothing else to stop her descent. But another performer was making a long swing and released his grip, flying across and grabbing Ty Lee's ankles. Together they flipped in the air, intersecting with a woman swinging towards the tightrope, who was holding onto the swing by her knees. She grabbed the other performer's ankles and let go of her swing, taking all three of them towards the tightrope. Ty Lee grabbed onto the tightrope and swung the others around it. The woman flipped up and landed with her feet on the tightrope, while the man stood on her shoulders. He flipped Ty Lee up and over him, letting her land on his shoulders.
The audience cheered for the performers, though the show had only finished the first act. Ty Lee bowed to the crowd below, still keeping her balance on top of the other performers. Zuko and Azula stood up and clapped louder, encouraging everyone around them to do the same. The standing ovation for Ty Lee was nearly deafening, even from the height she was at. It all went to Ty Lee's head, making her careless as she gave a very deep bow. Leaning forward just a little bit too far Ty Lee tipped over and lost her footing, falling off the other performer's shoulders.
People in the audience thought it was all part of the show, and that Ty Lee was supposed to fall to continue her performance. The other performers thought Ty Lee knew what she was doing, hesitating just long enough for Ty Lee to fall beyond their reach. But one person reacted fast enough to help Ty Lee, even from down below her. Aang bended a strong stream of wind upward towards Ty Lee, slowing her down just enough to let her grab the tightrope and swing back up onto it.
Before anyone could stop him Aang leaped out of the audience and rose up on airbended wind. He landed on the safety net and used it as a spring to get higher up, reaching the tightrope and grabbing it in one hand. There he used some wind to spin around the tightrope to get above it, and then he twisted in the air to get his feet on the rope and stand on it. Keeping his balance with subtle airbending Aang stood next to Ty Lee, smiling at her.
"Hi there," Aang said.
"Get down!" Ty Lee demanded, keeping her voice to a whisper that only Aang was close enough to hear. "You're ruining my act!"
"Okay," Aang said, and simply fell back. As he left the tightrope he used some airbending to draw one of the swings to him, grabbing onto it and swinging across the open space. Instead of reaching the platform at the other end Aang used wind to blow the swing in a circle around half of the tent.
Annoyed that the crowd was paying more attention to Aang instead of her, Ty Lee jumped off the tightrope. She timed it right as Aang swung by, grabbing onto the swing upside down and holding herself up while Aang hung beneath it. "Knock it off!" Ty Lee insisted.
"Make me," Aang challenged. He let go of the swing and formed one of his air spheres, riding on it around the fabric walls of the tent.
Below the show Zuko watched Ty Lee use the swings to chase Aang around the tent. "Should we do something?" he whispered to his sister.
Azula took a handful of Mai's fire flakes instead. "I'm good just watching them," Azula commented, wondering if Ty Lee would resort to chi blocking Aang just to get him out of her show.
When Aang's air sphere dissipated he was over the tightrope, and decided to grab onto it. He used a strong wind to spin around the rope, making several rotations before his hands started to feel hot. Before a rub burn could form Aang let go, blindly throwing himself across the tent. Dizzy from his spinning Aang didn't see Ty Lee swinging across before crashing into her, making both of them fall towards the audience.
"You Idiot!" Ty Lee yelled, seeing that they were falling outside the span of the safety net.
People in the crowd screamed as they saw Aang and Ty Lee falling to their apparent demise. Aang slowed down the fall by bending a cushion of air below, catching him and Ty Lee before the air dispersed. Safely on the ground Aang stood up and smiled. "Well that was fun," he commented, helping Ty Lee stand up. "Maybe I'll see you around?"
Late in the afternoon Ty Lee was in her room resting from her botched performance. The circus master had canceled the rest of the shows scheduled for the day, allowing the performers to recover. In her mind Ty Lee made up new ways to improve her act, so that the audience in future shows would forget about the airbender that interfered. For her the use of airbending was cheating in acrobatics, it took away from the skill of trained professionals.
Ty Lee had been lying down on her bed when she heard someone walking by and stopping by her open door. She got up and looked over to see a friend standing there. "Azula!" Immediately Ty Lee cartwheeled over to Azula and hugged her.
"How've you been?" Azula asked, returning the hug.
"Better, now that you're here," Ty Lee answered, letting go of Azula.
Smiling at that comment, Azula was glad to see Ty Lee again. "It's been way too long."
"Did you see the show?" Ty Lee asked. "Cause there's a guy that deserves a 'visit' from you."
Azula laughed at the idea, understanding that Ty Lee implied something nasty. "Believe me I'd love to, but you know who that was."
With a sigh Ty Lee threw out her arms, remembering a briefing every performer had to hear before the circus set up shop here. "Yes, the last airbender, also that thing that we're not allowed to talk about in case he's around, and is listening to your brother for some reason."
"Exactly," Azula said. "I can't do anything to him until he's finished with a project that Zuko came up with."
"Well keep him on that instead of messing with my shows," Ty Lee insisted.
"There is a way you can help," Azula said. She smirked and gave a suggestive look. "I think Aang likes you."
"No way," Ty Lee said, shaking her head. "Please keep me out of your schemes."
"If you insist, but I can't promise that he won't interrupt again," Azula threatened.
"Oh fine," Ty Lee muttered, knowing that it was rarely worth arguing with Azula. "But if anything happens between me and him I'm blaming you."
"Fair enough," Azula said.
Together Azula and Ty Lee left the grounds claimed by the circus, walking to the military base next to it. They headed for the house that Aang was in, passing by the logistics warehouse that had extra guards assigned to it in case Qin showed up again. Azula opened the front door and walked inside with Ty Lee behind her, finding Aang hard at work after his fun day.
"Hey Aang," Azula said. "I'd like to properly introduce you to Ty Lee."
Aang stood up and turned around, seeing Azula and Ty Lee. "Hey there," Aang said, recognizing Ty Lee from the show. "I'm sorry about earlier."
"It's alright," Ty Lee said. She walked over to Aang's desk, seeing several pages of translated text. "What are you working on?"
Back at the desk Aang picked up a book he had been translating. "This one is a list of airbending techniques and teachings of our cultures."
"Maybe something else is more worth your effort," Azula interrupted.
"Okay," Aang said, setting the book and its incomplete translation aside. He picked up a scroll and unrolled it, then placed his fingers on the first line of braille.
Ty Lee stepped into another room with Azula, closing the door so that Aang couldn't hear them. "Why did you want me here again?" Ty Lee whispered.
"He doesn't know you," Azula answered. "There's a possibility that Aang's memory could come back at any moment. You're the only person I trust to watch him and won't be recognized if he remembers who he really is."
"And what am I supposed to do while I watch him?" Ty Lee asked.
Azula shrugged her shoulders. "Help him maybe? I don't know, just think of something."
"I'll try to figure out how he reads those little bumps," Ty Lee suggested.
"Good idea," Azula said. With that settled Azula walked back into the main room, seeing Aang already writing down a few translated words. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted."
When Azula was outside and closed the door behind her Ty Lee walked up to Aang. She watched him reread the same row of bumps several times. "Is this one complicated?" Ty Lee asked.
"Something's not right with it," Aang answered. Removing his fingers from the bumps Aang held the scroll closer to his eyes. Up close he saw little bits scratched off individual bumps, and then found very shallow lines connecting them. "It's almost like someone wrote on top of this scroll without any ink."
"Could be a hidden message," Ty Lee suggested. "I hear the old Fire Sages use a special ink that only appears when it's warm."
Aang grabbed a lamp from the wall and set it on the desk. He held the scroll over the lamp and let it get warm, but nothing appeared. "Guess this isn't that ink," Aang said. Thinking about the possibility of a hidden message gave Aang another idea. "Do we have any ink powder?"
Taking a moment to look through the desk's drawers Ty Lee found a jar of ink powder. Aang uncorked the jar and held one hand over it. Using his fingers for subtle airbending Aang pulled out some powder in a miniature cyclone and carefully guided it over the scroll. Widening the cyclone of air and lowering it Aang lightly dusted the scroll with the power, letting the ink fill in the scratches. Slowly words appeared on the scroll, written on top of the braille already there.
One look at the revealed message was more than enough to worry Ty Lee. "Who's Gyatso?"
Aang ignored Ty Lee, too busy reading the message to notice her reading it over his shoulder. Gyatso's handwriting was unmistakable, even if Aang had to apply the ink for his old guardian. The message didn't have a specific person addressed to it, which only made it worse in Aang's mind. There was a date in the upper corner, only a few weeks after Aang's memory ended.
If there is anyone left that can read this scroll, this is Gyatso of the Southern Air Temple. The day we have long dreaded is upon us. Fire Nation troops are in our skies on the dragons, and Hai Lee's Comet burns the heavens and the earth in firebending. I fear that we will not survive this day, and that the other temples share our end. There is no hope for the Air Nomads, but hope still exists for the rest of the world.
Fire Lord Sozin believes that by striking down our nation, that he will destroy the Avatar before he matures. He is mistaken, for the Avatar is not in any of the temples. Our greatest mistake was informing the Avatar of his identity too early, and the burden of his destiny drove him away from us. And yet that folly has saved his life, for even I do not know where he is and cannot reveal it. But if you can find him, help him restore balance.
I know that Aang can save the world.
Aang's jaw dropped as he finished reading, and he reread the last line to be absolutely certain. Gyatso would never lie about a matter so important, and it fit with Qin's claim the other night. "How can I possibly be, Avatar Aang?"
On the verge of panicking Ty Lee tried to say something believable. "Aang, if you were the Avatar, wouldn't you know about it?"
"I don't know," Aang muttered, starting to doubt the story Zuko told him about the Avatar. "But someone is not telling the truth, and it isn't Gyasto."
Despite knowing that Zuko's charade was falling apart, Ty Lee didn't want to let Aang confront her friends about it. That would only get Aang killed, which Ty Lee thought was a waste of a life. "Let's think this through," Ty Lee suggested. "Do you really want to take any risks when you're the last airbender?"
That implication silenced Aang, since if anything happened to him the art of airbending would be lost. Future airbenders would have to start all over again from watching sky bison, if any survived in the uncharted wilderness. Priorities shifted in Aang's mind, as he wanted to be certain that airbending could survive intact without him.
Fortunately there was one person Aang suspected might have the potential for airbending. "Hey Ty Lee, were any of your ancestors airbenders?"