Wandering Firebender
Nine: A Dream Realized
Ty Lee woke up sluggishly to the sounds of her fellow troupe members walking around gathering their things. It sounded like it was time to move onto the next town. Ty Lee yawned and stretched her arms out, getting up and braiding her hair before gathering her stuff.
Ty Lee hummed a little tune to herself as she stepped out of her caravan. She walked around and gathered her things. She tossed the last of her randomly cluttered things into her caravan and dusted her hands off with a smile.
She turned around to see if anyone else needed help. As her eyes scanned around, she noticed a familiar face. Her eyes widened and she gasped, "No way! Elio?!" She called out to him, approaching him quickly.
Elio looked back at her call and saw her coming. He quickly finished with helping to carry a box into a separate caravan. He turned towards her with a smile. She ran up to him and hugged him, to his surprise.
"Did you change your mind?!" She asked excitably as she let go of him.
"Yep. I did. I talked things over with the ringleader and the manager. I showed them what I showed you. So I'm in! I'll be performing with you and the troupe in the next town." He informed her. Ty Lee excitedly clapped her hands, hopping in place once.
"That's great! I'm so happy for you! You're gonna do so good! You have all of your stuff packed and ready to go already?" She asked.
"I have my bag on me. I'll just be walking alongside until accommodations can be made for me." Elio answered.
He didn't want to tell her that his admittance into the troupe was on a trial basis; until it could be seen whether or not audiences would enjoy his talents.
"Oh man, that's a long way though. Tell you what; you can ride with me in my caravan!" She said with a grin.
"Really, you sure? I'm fine just walking." He insisted.
"And I'm fine with you riding with me! Now grab your stuff and let's go!" She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along.
"Woah okay!" He stumbled and followed her.
Elio sat in Ty Lee's caravan, staring out the window and slowly watching the landscape of the Earth Kingdom scroll by. Not having to walk through it while being constantly on guard allowed him to really take it all in.
The Earth Kingdom has a lot of natural beauty to it.
"You look deep in thought," Ty Lee observed with a giggle, sitting next to him. "Whatcha thinking about?" She asked. Elio looked at her and chuckled.
"Just looking out at the sights of the Earth Kingdom. There's so much greenery here." He pointed out his obvious observation. Ty Lee giggled in agreement.
"I know right? Over in the Earth Kingdom, everything is all paved and crafted. There's hardly any trees that weren't planted!" She pointed out.
"Yeah! Exactly," He agreed emphatically. "Finally someone who knows where I'm coming from!" He exclaimed with a laugh.
"Haha, yeah! It was a culture shock for me too. But I like it here! It's very pretty."
"I was just thinking the same thing," He said with a smile. "Tell me more about what it was like for you in the Fire Nation. I haven't spoken to anyone from back home in a long time." He requested.
"Oh yeah? Me neither. I usually don't tell people that I'm from the Fire Nation because everyone automatically assumes it's bad. Which, agree to disagree on that." She added.
"Yeah I totally get what you mean." Elio nodded.
"Yeah. But anyways, your question! Uh, I liked the Fire Nation. It was nice. I told you already that I was friends with Azula. She's really…well, words don't do her justice." She said with a chuckle.
"Oh yeah, I've heard stories of her intense reputation." Elio said with an understanding laugh.
"Ok good so you know," She giggled. "But other than that, there's not much to tell. I grew up in a big family with six sisters-" Ty Lee started to continue, but Elio cut her off.
"Six sisters?!" Elio exclaimed in shock.
"Yep," She nodded and giggled. "Six sisters. So you can imagine how hectic it was at home. All of my sisters looked a lot like me, so I became an acrobat to distinguish myself. A few years later, bada bing bada boom, here I am!" She summarized.
"Wowww. Very cool of you, Ty Lee. I'm glad that it worked out for you." He said with a smile.
"Aww, thank you! What about you? What made you want to get into performing with your firebending? That can't be easy. I mean, I wouldn't know 'cause I'm not a bender, but you make it look, like, really hard but also really easy."
"Haha, well thank you. Well, I think I can say the moment that I wanted to get into it was one time me and my sister were practicing our firebending together, she's a firebender too, and we tried to make actual shapes out of the fire.
"They were simple things: squares and circles and stuff. But that was when I first realized that there's so much potential for fire and firebending. And from then on, whenever I would train, I would push myself to be creative with my bending." He told his story.
"Oh that's so neat! Like what you did with the circles and the dragon! I've never seen anyone do that before!" She said.
"Exactly, exactly. I mean, some of those tricks have been done before, but that's what I wanted to learn. But I also wanna come up with new tricks too that no firebender has ever seen or done." He said with a dreamlike smile.
"Well, I think here you'll have a huge chance to do that," She said warmly. "I can't wait to see what you come up with, Elio." She said, leaning forward a little bit. Elio blushed and smiled in return.
"Yeah…me too." He said in agreement, chuckling a bit nervously. She laughed.
"So what were you doing before you joined our troupe? Were you, like, a travelling performer or something?" She asked curiously.
"Oh! Uh, well… Honestly I was just walking around travelling the Earth Kingdom. I've never been outside the borders of the Fire Nation before, so this is a new experience for me." He explained.
"Oh, neat! Well hey, you'll get to see plenty more travelling with us! You're gonna love it!" She said with an excited smile. Elio chuckled and smiled too.
"I have a feeling I will."
"Elio? Elio, where are you?" The ringleader called out for him, looking around. Ty Lee, hearing this, called back to him.
"He's over here, Boris! We're just finishing up his foundation!" She called. Boris the ringleader made his way over to Ty Lee's quarters. He found Elio with her; she was helping him put on a basic amount of makeup for his performance, which was coming up soon now.
"Elio, our firebending friend! How are you feeling?" Boris asked, patting a hand on his shoulder.
"Uh, heheh," Elio chuckled nervously. "I'm terrified. This is…something I've never done before."
"This is what you wanted, isn't it? I, for one, am greatly looking forward to what you do tonight. I just wanted to discuss something important before you go out there."
"Lay it on me."
"Obviously, firebending is not without its dangers. And we love danger here at the circus. However, if our tent were to go down in flames or if our audience were to suffer injury, that would not be good for our reputation.
"You see where I'm going with this?" Boris asked.
"I do. You want me to put on a show but make sure no one gets hurt. So keep it in control." Elio summarized. Boris nodded.
"Yes. Can you do that for me?"
"No problem at all."
"Great! Just keep that in mind. And you have free range other than that. Our dear Ty Lee here told me great things about what you can do. She's never steered me wrong, so I've no reason to doubt what you can do."
"Thank you for this opportunity, sir. I won't let you down." Elio said appreciatively.
"You're quite welcome, my good man! Things in the world may be tense right now, but the circus has a way of bringing everyone together! Put on a good show and you'll be just fine." Boris said with a smile before leaving them.
"See? You've got nothing to worry about." Ty Lee smiled at him.
"Yeah… Do you know who's gonna be at the show tonight?" He asked.
"Nope! Well, I know there's gonna be some Fire Nation soldiers in attendance. Other than that, it should just be random people." She answered. Elio nodded and hummed.
So he had a chance of at least having part of an impartial audience.
"Okay. I'll do my best," He nodded in response. "I'm gonna go prepare and get my head right. I'll catch you after the show." He said, leaving her quarters.
"Okay!" She said, waving to him.
Elio walked to the edge of his space and sat down silently, trying to mentally prepare himself. As the show began behind him, he spent his time just pondering the gravity of this moment: for once in his life, he had the opportunity to do exactly what he wanted to do with his life.
Back in school, everything was about servitude: serving the country and the Fire Lord. He would half-heartedly recite the pledge; sometimes he couldn't even bring himself to finish it. His only desire was to bring joy to people and to be remembered in a positive way.
If this was to be his only chance to realize his dream, he couldn't let his own self-doubts stop him from giving this performance his all…
"Ladies and gentleman! You've seen our performers flirt with death and perform feats unlike anything else in the world! Truly, the circus is where the real magic happens," Boris the ringleader announced, hyping up the crowd.
"Our next performer has travelled the world, learning and developing his skills just to give you this dazzling performance tonight. You've seen fire, and you may have seen firebenders before, but you have never before seen a man who can tame fire like this!
"Let's give a fiery welcome to our man: Elio! The wandering firebender!"
The audience applauded for Elio as he came out waving to the audience. He looked around and immediately noticed the distinctions between the Fire Nation soldiers and the rest of the audience. The Earth Kingdom citizens in attendance appeared to be of some nobility: Fire Nation supporters.
That explained the warm reception. Nevertheless, he was determined to give them a show.
Elio stood in the center of the ring. He took a deep breath, getting into a relaxed stance. He bent his knees slightly, raising his hands up in front of him. As he did so, the musicians began to play a mysterious yet charming tune.
Elio extended his pointer and middle fingers out. He traced lines of fire around him, creating two rings like a ball. He took in a deep breath, holding the fire in place. He added more fuel to the fire. The flames blazed.
As the fire grew hotter, the two rings suddenly flashed blue, briefly crackling from Elio's focused intensity. Elio moved his hands in a half-circle. His flames boomed loudly and snapped outwards, causing the entire audience to jump back in shock and amazement.
Elio had never done that before, but he just rolled with it and kept going.
Elio turned and created two knives made of fire in his hands. He tossed them outwards, suspending them in the air. He traced lines with his fingers, extending the knives out into two tall lines on either side of him.
Continuing his trick, he created more lines until they circled around him. He then created rings of fire, giving the appearance of a tall, circular cage around him. He once again caused the flames to burn more intensely. He then moved his hands from left to right, making the cage spin.
As the music built in intensity, a grin crept onto Elio's face. He did a sideways flip and shot a fire blast through the cage. The cage bent outwards with the fire. The flames spread outwards in the air like a blooming flower. Elio did this in each direction, letting everyone in the audience see this awesome display.
As the audience gasped in further amazement, Elio moved on to his finale. He spun his hands around in a circle, allowing the fiery cage to disappear piece by piece. Once it had completely disappeared, he took another breath and began.
Elio spun around and sent out a fire blast. The blast curved to the right in the air, spinning around and taking the form of a dragon. Elio guided it with his hands, making the dragon fly in circles.
Typically, the next part of this trick would be to 'tame' the dragon by creating a lasso and hooking the dragon around the neck. However, Elio had something even more special in mind. He took in a very deep breath; he would need all of his concentration for this one.
Elio got into a wide stance and sent another fire blast out. This one curved to the left and became a second dragon. Elio's arms began to tremble as he controlled one dragon with each hand, making them fly in intersecting circles.
"Just a little more…" Elio said to himself, doing his best to control his breathing. He did another sideways flip and clapped his hands together.
The two dragons twisted and flew directly into each other above his head. As they crashed together, the flames let out a loud bursting sound. Elio spread his hands back out, and the ball of fire shot outwards, becoming a multitude of small flames floating gently in the air.
Elio slowly moved his fingers up and down in a wave motion, letting the flames flicker and dance gently to the music before they faded away. The music came to an end along with it, signaling the end of his performance.
The audience erupted into applause, cheering loudly for him. Elio's tired arms dropped down and he forced himself to stand up straight although he was tired. His head was spinning; he almost couldn't hear the audience cheering. But he could see them, and that brought a big smile to his face.
Elio took a bow in each direction, waving happily and going backstage. When he went back there, Ty Lee was the first one to congratulate him with a big hug.
"Elio, that was amazing! I've never seen anything like that before!" She said with a giggle. Elio laughed and hugged back.
"That was terrifying. I was so nervous the whole time." He chuckled, his heart still racing. It was making it a little hard for him to breathe.
"Oh I so could not tell." She giggled.
"Elio, my good man! That was a fantastic display! Words don't do it justice," Boris said with a smile. "We'll probably have to open up the top of the tent to counteract all the smoke you made, but that was an oversight on our part.
"You just gave your first performance and it was an absolute success! How do you feel?"
"I… It's like you said, words don't do it justice." Elio chuckled and shook his head. He was still processing what just happened.
"Haha, congratulations, Elio! Here's to more to come." He said, patting him on the shoulder before running out to the audience to announce the next act.
"You were great! I'll find you after the show!" Ty Lee smiled, hugging him again before hurrying off to get in place for her own act.
"O-Okay." Elio stuttered, smiling as he waved her off…
Back in Ty Lee's caravan after the show, Elio sat and looked out the window again. It was finally starting to sink in: he'd gotten exactly what he wanted. He had finally gotten to feel what it was like to perform and show off his talents. And it couldn't have gotten better.
Emotions welled up in him. He tried to hold it back but he couldn't. Thick tears began to stream down his face, but for once, they were tears of joy. He wiped them away with his sleeve, sniffling and smiling to himself.
"Oh hey, Elio! I didn't think you'd be back in here. But it makes sense, you still haven't gotten your accommodations figured out, huh?" Ty Lee realized as she entered into her caravan.
"Hmm?" He looked over, realized it was her, and quickly wiped the rest of his tears away. "Yeah, yeah, no I haven't gotten it figured out yet. Is it okay if I stay here until then? If that's alright with you." He requested.
"That's not a problem!" She smiled and walked over to sit with him, "The show tonight was amazing! And you really had a huge hand in that." She said as she sat in front of him.
"Thanks," Elio sniffled again. "It really did go well, didn't it?" He agreed with a smile.
"It did. Were you crying?" She immediately recognized. Elio nodded; the signs must have been clear on his face, so there was no point in trying to deny it.
"Yeah. My emotions just got to me. In a good way though. I'm really happy. I've just…never felt this…lifted before." He expressed, raising his hand up towards his chest. Ty Lee nodded and smiled in understanding.
"Yeah, it's something else, right? I remember my first performance. I got exactly the same way," She giggled softly. She scooted towards him and hugged him. "I'm really happy for you."
"Thank you, Ty Lee. I really have you to thank for this chance." He said, hugging her back tightly.
"Yeah, a little bit, but you really have the talent, Elio. You deserve to be here for sure." She said.
"Thank you." He said, getting comfortable holding her.
She smiled up at him, and he smiled in return. Wordlessly, she leaned in and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek. As she pulled away, Elio could only hope that she couldn't see him blushing in the pale light.
"I'm gonna try and get some rest. You should try and do the same," She said, tapping him on the shoulder with her fist in a playful way. "Goodnight, Elio."
"Goodnight, Ty Lee." He said softly, watching her walk behind the curtains of her room. He touched his cheek and swallowed. This night had been filled with all sorts of unfamiliar emotions.
It was like Boris had said: words couldn't do it justice…