Just a bit of light reading

Ty Lee came out of the alley just as face-bandaged as Michael - although her bandage was saggy and too tight in several places at the same time - which was probably a good idea, because she still has a life outside of communicating with a Russian alcoholic. Michael looked at her, wondered where she got the bandages and turned around to get away from this damned city. He didn't want to know what would happen when the soldiers realized that his threats to cripple them carried less weight than a feather. Oh, he knew exactly how to make cripple people, just for this they should preferably stand without movement and armor for a couple of minutes. One of the disadvantages of working as a torturer is that all your targets sit still and twitch only from pain.

Ty Lee tossed the bag into his hands and Michael gave her a barely perceptible nod, it wouldn't be nice to go out of character when they were still being watched. "Let's move to the forest, there will be more cover."

Together they ran into the woods and in just five minutes they were deep enough not to worry about the pursuers. Michael was sure that none of the soldiers could read footprints, only those who go to the front line are taught this. He sat down near one of the trees and noticed Ty Lee sat next to him, but the girl wasn't quite there.

Her eyes weren't focused, as if she was trying to look at something that was not in front of her, her hands were trembling a little, and a single drop of sweat was running down her forehead. Never in her life could she even imagine that her Nation would be willing to throw innocent people into a fire just to find one person. 'Thank God Azula isn't like that... right?'

"So, what are you going to do?" Michael asked gently and grimaced as Ty Lee's head snapped in his direction.

"Huh?" She tilted her head and began to unwind the bandages around her face. "I'll go back to the circus, of course, they're still waiting for me there. Why do you ask?"

Michael sighed heavily and began to unwind his face. He didn't know how a girl who grew up in a militaristic state could be so naive.

"If no one noticed you last night, it would be a miracle. You helped the enemy of the Fire Nation sabotage their soldiers. That's not to mention the rest of what we most likely did last night." He muttered.

Ty Lee turned pale and clenched her fists. She looked fearfully towards the city and swallowed hard. "...I'll go back to the circus and see if anyone saw me. They know me, nobody would think that I volunteered to help attack the Fire Nation." She nodded to herself, but Michael saw that she was saying it more to convince herself.

Ty Lee was a member of a Noble family - Ty family - one of the seven sisters of septuplets. How her mother survived that childbirth, Michael did not know, but his respect for this woman was incredible. 'If she survived, and that's a big if...'

It also helped Ty Lee that she was the best friend of Azula, the princess of the Fire Nation, since childhood. So, no one would be able to throw her in jail, and they won't even try to execute her for treason. Of course Michael didn't say any of this out loud, he shouldn't know something so personal about the girl he met just last night.

'Now that I think about it, why would she even agree to go out and fuck around in the city with a complete stranger? Even I doubt she's naive enough to go to a bar with anyone the first time they meet. Something's wrong here...' He frowned and scratched his chin. Michael felt that he was missing something, but he knew that now he wouldn't understand what it was. 'Hopefully it's not the Spirits this time.'

"Well, then I'll say go for it. I'll wait for you here if you've been spotted. Worst case, I'll help you." He continued to remove the bandages from his body.

Ty Lee looked at him with an undecided look, not knowing exactly how she should answer. "... I don't know if I should thank you, because of you I'm in this position."

Michael just sighed heavily, he's been doing that a lot lately. "I suppose you're right. For all that's worth, I'm sorry." He spoke sincerely.

Ty Lee nodded and went to investigate the situation at the circus, leaving Michael alone with his thoughts - which was rarely a good idea.

Luckily, Michael had a book to keep him busy until his new friend returned, so he took it out of his bag and read the title on the spine.

{Warning for those who seek. By K.}

"Seek what?" He asked no one in particular.

{To whoever opens this book: I truly pity you.}

{If you are so desperate that you are ready to leave this world for the unknown, well, I am not the one who can say that this is a terrible idea, because I seek for the same thing as you. My reasons for searching will remain mine, as will yours, here I will write everything I have found up to this point about the path out of this world.}

Michael stared. He looked at the pages of the book and couldn't believe his eyes. The fox gave him the most necessary book in order to find a passage to the new world, but why? Michael strongly doubted that the huge fucking owl wanted to help him out of the kindness of his - its? - heart. He flipped through the entire book to check its condition and noticed that the last few pages had been torn out.

"Of course, nothing can be that simple." He muttered and felt his right eye twitch.

{I began my research in ancient records about Avatars and their deeds, for it is the Avatar that serves as a link between our world and the world of Spirits. Unfortunately, I found only vague information that once our world coexisted with the Spirit World and was separated by the first Avatar. Many assume that he connected the South and North Poles to achieve this, but I have little faith that the very first Avatar was capable of moving entire continent. Maybe the legends are talking about something else...}

{My research in the ancient libraries did not give the expected result. Every time I got close to even a drop of information, the recordings got too maddening, or just stopped. I believe that anyone who discovers a passage to other worlds loses their mind, and I pray to the Spirits that the same fate would not overtake me.}

{My search for a way out began years ago...}

"Fuck, he's stalling even in the book? If I find out who K is, I will resurrect him from the dead and kick him in the balls."

-=-=-=-=-=-

Michael booked the book cover to cover, but didn't find anything really helpful. Not knowing what to do, he read the book again and noticed several oddities. Some of the words in the book were written differently from others, it was not noticeable at first glance, but a trained eye will see it immediately. Somewhere sentences were written with too large empty spaces between them, and some words were simply spelled wrong.

It was not new for thieves to use a code to encrypt messages in text, but what Michael read was simply insulting. Giving such an obvious clue to anyone who might read this book was simply unforgivable in his eyes.

"That's fourth grader shit… A book on Energybending would have helped me more." He muttered and began to write down the words in his notebook.

What Michael didn't know was that the book was written in several old languages ​​that were only used by isolated tribes. An ordinary person, in order to solve the code on the book, would first need to translate it, which is a difficult task in itself, and only then look for the truth within the truth. Somewhere in the grave, the unnamed K wept tears of blood.

Sometimes the ability to speak and read all the languages ​​of the universe was much more useful than it seemed at first glance.

Michael didn't know how long it took him to decipher, but he didn't have time to finish. Ty Lee returned bouncing on the road with a huge smile on her face, her hands were behind her back and it was obvious that she was holding something.

"Hello there, my hiding-from-the-Fire-Nation friend! You'll never guess what happened!" She plopped down next to him, but put whatever was behind her out of sight of Michael. She looked much happier now, so he guessed that she had kept her place in the circus.

"I take it your job is safe?" He asked with a smile.

"Yep! Azu was worried when I didn't come back last night, but decided that I just forgot that I had to go back. I even met a strange lady who gave me a present for you!"

Michael blinked. He imagined many things that could happen after Ty Lee returned to the city, but not that she would become a courier for a strange lady.

"I- what?"

"Yeah, she was a little vague about how you two know each other, and when I asked her name, she said that she wished to remained nameless. Weird, right?" Ty Lee pulled out a small box from behind her back and placed it in Michael's hands. He just looked at the box with confusion on his face.

The box in his hand couldn't be bigger than his fist, it was made of wood, if he had to guess, and lined with velvet. Michael suddenly felt like he was about to be proposed to, but quickly pushed the thought out of his head.

"Nameless?" He felt his head begin to hurt. "Please don't take more things from strangers when you don't know their intentions." His fingers had already begun to open the box.

"She seemed nice." Ty Lee muttered and rested her chin on his shoulder to see what was in the box. When Michael did open the box, they both came face to face with a maple leaf.

And suddenly, Michael could feel the wind in his hair again. All he had to do was think, and the howling winds would once again obey his wishes.

"Fuck me." Michael muttered.