Smooth

Iroh's pupils constricted. He could feel something stirring deep within him. His better judgment told him not to fight Ryu, it wasn't worth offending the Ancestor that stood to his back. But the moment he heard those provocative words, his large belly thrummed with a bronze light, his gaze turning into slits and the earth beneath him rumbling.

He reached out with his twin pair of hammers, his gaze as fiery as that of a dragon's… but that only fueled Ryu's fighting intent all the more.

The other four reacted in the same way, suddenly surging forward. But even as they did, motes of starlight descended from the surroundings. The forest floor became like a gorgeous floral arrangement of twinkling light. It felt like countless seeds, holding the breath of life itself, floated in the surroundings. And in that very moment, Ryu that had already vanished, but was still firmly within their senses to grasp, slipped from their senses entirely.