Xiao looked into the deep water, and faintly saw two massive shadows in the depths, their eyes glowing as they stared up at him.
Xiao instinctively wanted to run away. However, he fought the urge and looked at the gigantic spirits.
"Tui and La? As in the original water benders? The spirits of the moon?" Xiao asked.
"Correct." The one Xiao believed to be Tui responded.
Xiao thought for a moment.
"So wait, just to be sure, you guys were those fishes I saw in the pond, correct? The ones swimming in circles?" He asked.
"That we were." La answered patiently. Xiao saw the eyes bob up and down a bit, so the spirit probably just nodded it's head.
"Then how are you both in the spirit world and the mortal world? That doesn't make sense." He asked, failing to understand how the beings could be in two places at once.
"The fish you saw in the pond are our physical bodies, but they lack our spirits. We gave them one task, and that was to continuously swim in circles. Meanwhile, what you see before you are our spirits. We are the actual consciousness of the two." Tui explained as Xiao nodded along.
'So they have basically split their bodies and minds apart between worlds… neat.' He thought as he stared down at the two majestic forms.
"Can you show yourselves?" Xiao asked, wanting to see what they looked like.
"No. We cannot." La replied.
'Why do they keep alternating who speaks? It's kinda creepy…' Xiao mused.
"So… why am I here?" He asked, just now realizing that the two spirits before him probably forced him into the spirit world.
"We don't know." Tui said, to which Xiao deadpanned.
"Can I leave?" Xiao asked eventually, after a few minutes of silence.
"That is probably for the best. Visit again though, I feel like our meeting was in some way fated." La responded as Xiao faded away.
"Oh! And say hi to the princess for us!" Tui said as Xiao faded away.
'What?' The boy thought as he left the spirit world. 'Who's the princess?' He wondered.
"Why didn't you tell him?" La asked after Xiao left. Th two spirits surfaced, showing that they were massive koi fish, one black and the other white.
"He isn't ready. Give him a year." Tui replied.
"Was it really a good idea to send that youngster Dongjie to mess with him?" La asked after a while. "How else would he have found the tree? Eventually he'll realize what was there, right?" Tui said as they both thought for a while.
"Too late to regret now." La added, making that weird gurgling noises as he laughed.
"That it is." Tui said, joining in on the laughter.
Meanwhile, Xiao woke up from his trance to find himself back in the clearing.
"That was… odd." He muttered to himself as he stood up and stretched.
"Did you talk with them?" A voice said from behind him.
"HOLY PANTIES OF OZAI! Xiao cursed as he whipped around, drawing his katana as he did so and bringing it up in a defensive position.
He lowered it however when he saw that the one who had spoken was a girl who looked to be around his age, with white hair.
She was quite pretty.
"Oh! Sorry if I startled you!" The girl said hurriedly, a bit of sweat running down her forehead as Xiao sheathed his sword.
"No Problem. You just startled me is all. Sorry for the overreaction. It's just I didn't expect anyone else to be here. Speaking of which…" Xiao trailed off and looked at the girl questioningly.
She giggled. "I should be asking you that question. After all, you're the one trespassing, not me." She said teasingly.
"What? I'm trespassing? On what exactly?" Xiao asked in confusion.
"You really don't know?" The girl asked, her brows furrowed as she thought for a moment.
"NoPe." Xiao replied, popping the p.
"This is the Northern Water Tribe's most spiritual place, the Spirit Oasis." The girl said.
Xiao's eyes widened. "I'm in the Northern Water Tribe?!" He asked incredulously.
The girl looked even more confused. "You didn't know?" She asked.
"No. I was traveling to the Northern Water Tribe on a merchant ship, but it wrecked and I washed up on an ice-island. I had to travel to mainland and then I just walked in one direction until I found this place." Xiao explained his journey, leaving out the spiritual shenanigans he endured.
"Wow." The girl said, bewildered. 'What a weird guy.' She mused internally.
"So, I'm Xiao. What's your name?" Xiao asked, realizing they still hadn't properly introduced themselves.
"Oh! I'm Yue. Nice to meet you!" The girl replied, also realizing that she hadn't introduced herself.
"Well, Yue, about your question earlier. Yes, I spoke with those fishes. Scary little bastards." Xiao said, looking pointedly at the fish as he said the last part.
Suddenly, Xiao felt a shiver run down his spine, and swore he felt two lines circle his neck. He started sweating.
"Just kidding! They are the most handsome, friendly, and kind creatures that I've ever met! Totally not nightmare-inducing at all!" Xiao said with a nervous smile, small tears coming from his eyes.
The feeling of being lightly strangled went away and he let out a sigh of relief. 'Note to self. Don't talk shit about spirits.' He thought internally.
Yue watched Xiao's odd behavior with a mixture of surprise and amusement.
"Wait, so you actually MET them?" She asked. Xiao nodded. "Why? Is that like a big deal or something?" He asked.
"Yes. I only know two people who have." Yue replied.
"Who?" Xiao inquired.
"My mother and I." She said.
"Oh! So you met the… wonderful… yeah wonderful fishes too?" Xiao asked, catching himself at the last minute. He looked down at the fish and swore he saw one of them give him a thumbs up.
'Heh.' He thought.
"Yes. What did you talk about?" Yue asked.
"Nothing. They brought me to this island place, answered a few question, then said the didn't know why they brought me there and kicked me out." Xiao replied.
At this Yue looked confused. "Tui and La always have a purpose in meeting someone. It is off that they didn't know why they wanted to talk to you." She said, deep in thought.
"Meh. Whatever. So where exactly are we? And do you know any good places to stay?" Xiao asked, realizing that he would still need a place to stay.
"Oh! Yes! Follow me, I'll bring you to my house, hopefully father will allow you to stay with us for the time being!" Yue said, grabbing Xiao's hand and leading him away from the pond.
{A/N}
Princess Yue x Xiao???
(Im basically just introducing different love interests, whichever one I like the most is the one I'm going for).
Xiao finally reached the Northern Water arrive, eh? I wonder what new styles he will learn here?
This boy will be a monster when he's older, I can feel it in my balls… I mean bones.
Have a good day.