Archive of Our Own

Park Jaesang’s Traveling Circus was rather well known throughout the Earth Kingdom. 

“...Aren’t you that circus who’s lion-bear ate its tamer?”

…Not particularly for savory reasons, but known nonetheless.

“I think it is…”

“No way, even the general of the Zhou District walked out on Jaesang’s show, didn’t he?”

"This that show with the singing Parrot-Duck?"

Park Jaesang gave a sly smile, "Twenty copper coins to see for yourself~!"

The unamused man raised an eyebrow and continued on his way. From the rafters of the warehouse, two acrobats snickered as Park Jaesang fruitlessly tried to chase after the man.

"Bet you he'll snag his money purse this time around."

"For your banana pancakes? I'll bet he falls face-first into that mud-ditch first."

"What mud-ditch–? Oh. "

Uncurling his long limbs, Hyunjin moaned as Ryujin began cackling in victory.

"Banana pancakes you said? Oh, happy birthday to me! "

Acrobat’s dust on their hands and feet, the two bickered with the mice and rats, like they had for the three years since Jaesang had found them doing rooftop tricks and pickpocketing for their meals and decided his acts needed high-wire thrills. 

Thunder clapped over the little city, and the downpour sent any remaining curious eyes scattering, Park Jaesang shaking his head as he stalked back, disappointedly, to the little warehouse that had postered plastered on the front that boasted show dates for the weekend. The heavy doors swung open, and then closed, everyone settling in a hush as they waited to see whether they had a show to perform, or a town to run from before the man they’d rented the warehouse from came collecting and they had nothing to pay him back. 

Park Jaesang stopped in the middle of the dusty ring, hands in his pockets. The seven clowns, the two animal tamers, the floor acrobat, and the two aerialists. 

All in their street-clothes, ready to run if they needed to– hop back into the caravans they’d smuggled themselves in, run street-shows and pickpocket till another venue made itself known. 

But Park Jaesang straightened his back. He put on a winning smile. 

“We perform tonight.” he nodded with certainty, “If only for ourselves, to practice and perfect. The show goes on!”

So they slipped into their costumes, the bright paint colors on their faces in sharp lines that could be seen from a distance. Extravagant hair pieces and braids, gaudy and garish material stitched to bedazzle. 

As Chaeryeong untwisted her body from the center ring, from the knots of a contortionist to the strong limbs of a girl, Ryujin ran up the back ladder that took them to the support beams, high above the circus ring and performance floor. A surprising place to drop from unexpectedly, twirling in a ring.

“Don’t slip.”

She startled, gripping the beam beneath her and whirling around to where Hyunjin was menacingly leaning over her shoulder. Annoyed, she bared her teeth and swatted at his chest until he moved to the neighboring beam– far enough away that she could be sure he couldn’t push her off balance.

Only he would get so much pleasure from seeing me plummet to my death from here, she thought bitterly. 

All in jest. The line between friend and enemy blurred sometime between Ryujin learning to walk a tightrope to support Hyunjin’s routine, and Hyunjin making safety harnesses for when she practiced new hoop routines. There were equal parts dependency and rivalry, and neither would have it any other way.

“Hey,” he pointed down to the stands, “Some people were fools enough to come.”

Sure enough, scattered people dotted the stands. They’d been hard to notice, their lack of enthusiasm evident from how quiet they’d been. Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at the man who threw peanut shells at their animal tamer, Felix, as he ran beside one of their dogs, balanced on his front legs on top of a ball, rolling it across the ring. It didn’t deter the sunny boy, who clapped for the puppy encouragingly as it jumped off the ball and flipped for a treat from Felix’s pouch. 

But it bothered his brother, Jisung, as he released the two ponies from the back, who took their turn around the ring, feathers on their heads and weaved into their tails, trotting proudly till they came into the center, where the cat who’d been sitting on Felix’s shoulder lept in time with the dog, and they each took their places on the saddles. Jisung scowled as he saw a patron skim a peanut shell that hit Felix square on the cheek, the ever-present smile stuttering slightly. 

Hyunjin winced as he thought about how Felix would burst into tears when the show finished, and Jisung would take out his anger and frustration about it on the whole troupe, because Park Jaesang would never let him go back to beating bullies who hurt his brother in the back-alley. 

As the clowns came to clear out the ring, big red noses and polka-dots that took peanut shells in stride, Ryujin stood up to stretch her legs, rolling her neck and balancing her hula hoop to test it’s weight– as though she hadn’t made it and memorized it’s every bend already. 

She didn’t look at Hyunjin as she snapped at him, “Go away. You’ll distract me.”

“Nice to know I’m so distracting,” he smirked, before bending down, squinting at the clown act that managed to get some laughs from the crowd, “Little Jiwoo is taking to the family business of comedy quite well.”

Ryujin tried not to look, but the amusement in Hyunjin’s voice and her own pride and admiration pulled her gaze to where the youngest daughter of old Mr and Mrs Kim ran in her too-big shoes with her two long pigtails trailed like flags behind her, hopping through a hoop and making a show of falling on her backside, cute pout on her face. Jiwoo had spent all her life drawing the curtains and testing the gag acts her family performed for entertainment. It was cute to see her step into her own, her big brothers and doting sisters picking her up on their shoulders and tossing her about. They ended with all five Kim siblings piling into a deceivingly small box, Jiwoo’s father squishing her in last, her mother slamming the lid shut, the two saluting as they carried the box out of the ring.

She smiled as she imagined Jiwoo tumbling out of the box backstage, all giggles as her siblings teased her and pulled her hair and proudly spun her around for performing her first show so well. 

“Cute.” Hyunjin pulled himself up suddenly, onto slim and lithe legs that sauntered across the support beam back to the ladder with such grace, it almost made Ryujin jealous, “See you in the swings. If you don’t plummet.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I didn’t say anything you weren’t thinking~” he sang back before he slid down the ladder. 

They’d never say it out loud, but it was almost their way of wishing each other luck at this point. She’d seen Hyunjin nearly tear his hair out when a rope wasn’t tied taunt enough during a show and she’d been inches away from smashing her head open in the ring. 

Not that he would ever admit to such fear so openly.

She rolled her eyes, focusing her mind into the act as Jisung trained a fire-spotlight onto Park Jaesang in the middle of the ring, who hushed the crowd in the sudden shadows. She twisted around her ring, counting down the beats as he got to the end of his introduction for her, closing her eyes as she felt Chaeryeong pull the weights of the rope, balancing things out before–

Hyunjin held his breath for a moment as Ryujin’s ring dropped, free-falling before the rope pulled taunt, suspending her in the air. Felix and Jisung had focused the light on her body– her head thrown back, eyes closed so the purple and blue paints on her eyelids stood out starkly. The hairpiece Mrs Kim had made glittered, where the metal was bent and twisted around carved pieces of glass, seaglass that they’d collected and played with over their travels.

He scrunched his nose, hoping she would have the time to pry it out of her head before they took to the swings together. He didn’t fancy it gouging his eyes out while they flipped through the air.

“She’s quite amazing isn’t she,” Chaeryeong marveled in a hushed voice, pulling on her long stockings, which protected her from the stilts where they strapped to her legs and became extensions of her body. 

“Mm,” Hyunjin glanced up, always amazed at the fluidity of Ryujin’s body, even in her most nerve-wracking moments. But instead of saying that, he smiled at Chaeryeong, “Nervous?”

She’d been in the circus before Hyunjin, back when Park Jaesang hadn’t had a building and only a couple of street-crowding acts to build his name up.

“Me? Pfft,” she laughed, “Nothing is more nerve-wracking than before. Out in the streets, anyone could take advantage of you,” she shook her head, “At least here, you can pretend the ring is another world, you know?”

Hyunjin did. He wasn’t in a warehouse as he climbed the ladder in the dark, dropping onto the high platform, unhooking the trapeze swing from where it was latched. He took a deep breath and knew the air he was breathing wasn’t the same as down below. . 

It was magical. 

Sparked with fire.

“ And now– oh no! ”

Ryujin slipped from the ring as it pulled up, slippery hands of experience–

“ Will she fall?! ”

His body fell into the swing, knees hooked over the bar, wrists loose as he swung the curve to its height, where it met Ryujin’s fall, and her waiting hands latched onto his. The swing fell back and he let her go at the platform, giving her a wink as he swung himself onto his feet, standing on the bar and waving to the crowd below. 

The thrill of the show rested on him, the gasps of concern bleeding into awe as he swung from one bar to the other. Hesitant applause echoed up. Ryujin actually shook her head at him when she took the empty swing from the other end to join him. 

Back and forth, up and down, they swung from one side to the other.

Till the finale where Hyunjin left the bar and its protection completely. 

A risky move, one he could hear Ryujin telling him not to do because it wasn’t perfected, just as the crowd’s enthusiasm goaded him on. He felt Ryujin gasp, switching positions to adapt to his cockiness. 

For his show stopping moment.

He flipped, midair, anticipating–

Crap. 

A moment of panic erupted in his chest, his eyes blindly and terrifyingly meeting Ryujin’s as their fingers fell just a hair’s breadth short, and Hyunjin’s entire fall flashed before his eyes.

Shouldn’t have taunted her, shouldn’t have teased, he screwed his eyes shut in horror, thinking of the shame on his shoulders that would burden him as he hit the floor.

The net wasn’t secured yet. 

He was going to die.

This was it. 

Well, crap.

Only.

The fall never happened. He felt suspended up, everything in his body pulling against gravity until–

Huh?

Strong wrists around his, he opened his eyes to see Ryujin raise an eyebrow at him for a split moment, dropping him on the platform, where the spotlight caught him in all his glory, and he threw an arm up, before bowing to the ovation. 

Before he leapt off in time to Ryujin jumping from the bar, where they curled into the embrace of the net that Jisung and Felix had pulled for the finale of their acts, Hyunjin’s heart splatting on the floor as his body went boneless in the net. The spotlight fell off their shoulders, and onto Chaeryeong as she threw a baton in the air from her stilts, and caught it, balancing on one leg and moving precariously around the ring.

The net loosened, and Jisung and Felix gave each of them a hand to their feet, the Kims quickly coming to help, clearing the back of the ring and leading them backstage.

“Woah, dude!”

“That was awesome…”

“You never told us you perfected it, son!”

Hyunjin was speechless, humbly bowing and hiding their praise in a different sort of gratitude, as he ran after Ryujin’s form as she disappeared to her corner of clothes.

“Hey–”

“What do you know,” she said, loud enough for those around to hear, “Your stupid trick actually worked.”

Hyunjin bit his tongue. Because technically it hadn’t. 

He should have fallen, should have died, except for the tug in his whole body that pulled him to meet Ryujin’s hands. An unmistakable pull of–

“ Ryujin ,” he breathed, in absolute indebtedness, “I don’t know how– but you– you just–”

Her eyes flashed at him dangerously, with more venom than he’d ever felt from her in his life. This was different than their rivalry. Tinged in fear, it was threatening in the sort of way a cornered lion could act. 

“Don’t.”

“Ryu–”

“ Don’t. ”

“I–”

Felix frowned as he passed by, “Everything alright?”

They hesitated for a moment, but a similar pull paralyzed Hyunjin from saying anything. His lips felt sewn shut, his limbs stiff. 

“You’re welcome,” Ryujin finally said, and Hyunjin’s eyes widened in realization–

“I didn’t have to take the hair piece off, but I figured you needed all my help shining,” she put a hand dramatically to her head, “I’m already too stunning, I needed to dim myself for your act, I know, I know, you’re welcome .”

Felix found this hysterical, laughing to himself as he passed by.

Hyunjin didn’t even smile. 

Ryujin pulled him by the collar, voice low.

“You say anything, you’re dead.”

He gulped and nodded. 

They went out again for the high-wire, Chaeryeong walking on her hands on a lower rope, before twisting back onto her feet, taking Ryujin’s hand to fling her up into the air, where she grabbed the rope and twisted up on her feet next to Hyunjin, grabbing his waist from where he was, very concentratedly, holding a long staff to keep him steady. 

She slowly placed her hands on his shoulders, slowly pulled herself up. He raised the staff over his head, feeling the dig of her heels next to his neck. He looked up as her hands spaced out on the staff, and her eyes met his as she lifted her feet up, slowly, from his shoulders and up into the air.

Her eyes still burned.

Hyunjin had never been so terrified of someone before. As though realizing this, she smirked. 

Never in his life had Hyunjin been so eager to finish an act.

The show continued as planned, and ended with all of them in the center of the ring, bowing to a thunderous applause. The ponies and cat and dog and several doves circled the arena, and they stared at their feet for so long, Chaeryeong went dizzy and nearly fell into Jisung.

“Park Jaesang’s Traveling Circus!” the ringmaster boomed, “Running shows all weekend!”

The air was buzzing as they left the ring, excitement at the success ringing through. 

“Did you hear? They said they’d come again!” Felix whispered in amazement.

Chaeryeong clapped, “Oh did you see that little girl in the front row? Oh, she adored us!”

“And a special applause for little Jiwoo!” Jisung threw her up in the air and caught her on his shoulders, “The little circus clown who saved the show!”

The drinks and cheers were passed around, but Hyunjin numbly followed Ryujin out to behind the warehouse, not sure why until she whirled around and pushed him against the wall, blade to his neck. 

His arms felt locked by his side, his knees locked. This time, he knew it wasn’t his own fear.

“Did you not hear me the first time? Do you have a death wish? I’ll–”

“You’re… a bloodbender. ”

Maybe it was the awe in Hyunjin’s voice that made Ryujin hesitate as she did, but something flickered unsteadily in her eyes. 

“I’ll kill you, I will!” she hissed, “I’ll throw you into an alley, no one will miss you!”

“Ryujin…”

“I’ll bleed you dry! I’ll take your stupidly long fingers from you, knuckle by knuckle–”

“ Ryujin.”

“I’ll slit your ankles! Make you crawl! I’ll–!”

Hyunjin burned with enough strength to whirl them around, one hand prying the knife from her grip, the other gripped at her nape to pull her close enough that his voice, low and soft, wouldn’t carry in the wind. 

“ You aren’t the only one. ” 

Maybe it was the unsteady bond of trusting each other day in and out, maybe it was the kindness with which he said it, but it didn’t take too long, Ryujin’s eyes flickering between his, for her to believe him.

Her body loosened from its stiffness, confusion and relief ebbing and flowing as she frowned and pulled back. His hand was still stiff on the back of her neck, and he stared at her with such intensity she could only believe him. 

“How?”

“Disgraced my family, would have gotten them killed. You?”

She bit her lip, “Scared my sister. Hell, scared myself. ”

“Mm. Northern tribe?”

“My mother. We grew up in an Earth village… saw all the earthbenders rounded up and taken away. If the ability to turn a man’s body against him wasn’t terrifying enough…”

He nodded. It was a hard world under the fire nation, but it was harder to be a bender, a potential threat.

“But?” he smiled, letting her go, “Makes you a better performer, doesn’t it?”

“...I don’t know what you mean.” she frowned, and then snapped at him again, “I work hard at my acts! I don’t cheat!”

“I know,” he bowed his head respectfully, walking back into the warehouse, “You don’t take shortcuts at anything you do, I know.”

“...What does that mean? And wait,” Ryujin stalked after him angrily, “You haven’t told me what type of bender you–?”

He spun around, shutting her up quickly, before his eyes sparkled playfully. 

“Come now, Ryujin. Thought you didn’t like to cheat?”

“Just tell me!”

“Uh-uh! Did you tell me ? Do your homework, figure it out.”

“Tch,” she clicked her tongue and flicked him angrily, “You’re infuriating. I hate you.”

“Mm, of course you do.”

“I’ll let you fall next time.”

“Oh, I’m so scared,” he widened his eyes as he passed her a drink, elbowing Jisung in mock terror, “She’s trying to kill me, you heard that right?”

Jisung shook his head, “Women.”

Whirling on him, Chaeryeong snatched the drink from his hands, “No. Men.” she shook her head in disappointment, “You didn’t even ask what he did to anger her. Tch, all men are hopeless.”

“Well Hyunjin’s not the one with anger adjustment probl– hey!” Jisung whined and cried as Chaeryeong downed his drink dramatically, “The injustice in the world! Did anyone see that?”

Felix nodded sagely, “I did. What did you do to anger the woman?”

Chaeryeong gestured at him proudly, “See! Smart man.”

Jisung made a show of his sadness, collapsing with his arms in the air, “My own blood! Turned against me!”

It made Hyunjin bark a laugh, sharing a look of amusement with Ryujin. With a nod of respect, they tipped their drinks towards each other, before throwing their bottles back in celebration. 

“My circus!” Park Jaesang smiled broadly, throwing his arms around proudly, “Look at my circus! Look at this family!”

Somehow, despite the shows and the adrenaline and the busy day to come, Hyunjin and Ryujin slept a little better that night.

🎪

“Rise and shine–” Jisung shoved Hyunjin from his hammock, “We got peanut shells to clean, aerialist boy!”

Hyunjin grumbled, barely able to crack his eyes open, “I’m older than you…”

“So?”

Ryujin came right up to his hammock as Jisung left and raised an eyebrow. And without another warning–

“Ah– hey!” Hyunjin groaned from where he’d been flipped from his hammock and fell boneless on the floor, “I’m older than you too, y’know?”

“And?”

“You’re insufferable.”

“Thank you, I aim to please.”

It felt like normalcy, their return to banter and teasing. Life carried on, details thrown behind them to be lost. 

They swept the ring clean, tossed out the peanut shells, cleaned the silks and the flags and the banners. Clean hay for the ponies, more seeds for the doves. Jiwoo tried to balance on one of her brother’s unicycles, hesitantly putting one leg up in the air before falling into her father’s arms. 

Hyunjin had long passed the feeling of jealousy, but it flared in moments like these. The conversation the night prior was fresh in his mind, he could still imagine the moment he’d bent against his father’s commands, and the look of horror was immediately followed by one of anger and disappointment. 

He’d spent many years on the streets, lying to himself that if he tried hard enough, maybe his bending would disappear, and he could be whatever his father had wanted to begin with. He had believed it for so long, he had almost forgotten…

The power to wield the elements buzzed beneath his skin. Now that he remembered it would be hard to forget.

At least I have a friend this time, he thought to himself, finding it odd at how comforting it was that someone he’d already considered his little sister could feel like even more of a confidante. 

“ Hyunjin! ”

Ryujin nearly crashed running around the benches to get to him, and Hyunjin was inclined to let her face-plant the way she tugged him away from his sweeping. 

“Come! I need you to–! Come, come!”

“ What– if you did something to get yourself in trouble, I am not bailing you out,” he tugged his arm away from her grip, “and I will not be blamed for your messes again.”

“Again? When have I ever–” her eyes glazed over for a second, “Oh. Oh yeah… but this isn’t like the lettuce incident, promise.”

“You? Promise?’

“Cross my heart!”

It was hard to imagine this girl was the same one who’d held a knife to his throat last night. This girl was more like the competitive street-rat who’d swindled him of his customers in the ferry-lines to Ba Sing Se, more like the girl he’d met in Omashu, scaling delivery chutes to impress and bedazzle long enough that people didn’t realize she’d made off with their wallets.

She pulled him to the doors of the warehouse, cracking them open to see Park Jaesang standing in front, his arms crossed. In front of him was a young girl, dressed in three bright sweaters, her hair pulled into two cute tails.

“I’m Kyujin! The tumbling, high-flying cat from Gaoling!” she even ended her little introduction with her hands in two vs, which she placed downturned on her head like mock kitten ears.

“No,” Hyunjin heard him respond, frowning as the ringmaster’s usually cheery and persuasive tone was crisp and harsh, “Run along, little girl.”

“I want to join! I can do what they do too, I know it, let me show you!”

“No, I won’t take you.”

Ryujin strained her neck as Hyunjin peered over her, looking around the round figure of Park Jaesang to see the persistent face

“But look! I can flip, look–” they both smiled as she bent back onto her hands into a little handstand, and then cartwheeled, skipping into a front tuck, with a flourished twirl and bow, “See? Aren’t I good? I could do the high wire, I know I could, or- or-”

“No.” Hyunjin had never heard the old man so stern and uptight, “Go away.”

The girl’s expression fell into something so crestfallen, Ryujin actually felt sad for her.

“Why?…” the girl pouted, little, no more than eight years old if they had to guess, “What do I need to do… I want to be the high wire!”

“Go back to your parents.”

“I don’t have those.”

Hyunjin physically held Ryuthjin back as she tried to surge forward, whispering: “Hey, hey, she could be lying.”

“She isn’t. ”

The girl threw her arms up, “What does a girl gotta do to get into a circus?! I thought you let anyone in, no questions!”

“I can’t spare you a mentor,” he flung his arm at her to scare her off, “Get lost!”

“But–” she twirled and danced around him to get his attention, light on her feet, and suddenly both Ryujin and Hyunjin felt something catch in their chests as they realized there was something about her–

“Go!”

“No!”

“ We’ll take her.”

There were few times that Hyunjin had seen Park Jaesang so fed up, but his expression as Ryujin threw her arm around the little girl’s shoulder, Hyunjin standing between them and their ringmaster, was one that Hyunjin would have paid to have hung on walls. 

“You can’t be serious.”

Hyunjin shrugged, “Trade secrets gotta be passed down eventually.”

“I’ll be charged with kidnapping.”

“She came to you if anyone asks,” Hyunjin gave a knowing look, “And no one ever does.”

There were several moments of intense staring, Park Jaesang with his calculated disdain, Hyunjin with his resolve, unsure himself why and where it came from, but only sure that he needed to stand his ground and see this through. 

“... Fine, ” Park Jaesang glared at her as he walked back in, “She proves herself and doesn’t splat, then she stays. She’s on your heads.”

“Not a problem,” Ryujin winked, before crouching down, “What’s your name darling?”

“Um, Kyujin.” her face spread into a pleased smile, “The tumbling, high-flying cat from Gaoling. And I won’t let you down!”

“Well, if you plan on swinging and tightrope walking, I think we need to promise you that,” Hyunjin took her hand firmly, “But stick with us, alright?”

Jiwoo pouted when they came in, her cheeks puffed out and eyebrows scrunched, “Who’s that?”

“Kyujinnie,” Hyunjin ruffled her hair, “Our newest littlest sister.”

Jisung bit back a laugh before looking apologetically at Jiwoo, “Sorry for the rude promotion to older sisterhood, I suppose, baby.”

Kyujin walked straight to the middle of the stands, and deeply bowed, head nearly knocking against her knees as she enthusiastically greeted everyone. 

“I look forward to entertaining with you all!”

Felix hid a laugh behind his hand, “Oh she’s adorable, where did you pick her up from?”

Hyunjin hesitated between wanting her to make a good impression and not wanting to throw a damper on her naturally sunny disposition that threatened to outshine even Felix’s friendly dimples. Ryujin had no such conflict, amused as Chaeryeong awkwardly gave her a wide-berth, feeling threatened by her large arm movements and loud greetings. 

Park Jaesang suddenly clapped his hands over his head, “Back to work! We have a show to perform, I don’t pay you to drag your feet, let’s go!”

Kyujin fit under the aerelists’ wings like a chick under a hen. She wasn't scared of anything. She flew up ladders, leaned down on the support beams to watch Ryujin practice, held swings for Hyunjin as he tested grip switches and flips, and even put a foot out on the high wire–

"Oh, nu-uh," Ryujin pulled her back by the waist, as Hyunjin clipped her belt to the platform, "You start on the ground with Chaeryeong. Low wires, before you build up to this one."

Kyujin pouted– an expression they found her wearing often whenever she didn't understand or approve of a decision– tugging at the line holding her to the platform and looking longingly at the platform all the way across at the other end.

Hyunjin bit his lip as he crouched down next to her. When he'd first come up here, a burning desire to prove himself and outperform whatever nonexistent was set, he'd hidden that longing in a deep-set overconfidence that had led to many falls. Many almost-deaths.

Many stiff upper lips.

He wouldn't put Kyujin through that. And from the way Ryujin's hand hadn't left the back of Kyujin's sweater, staring at the ring down below like the floor was suddenly so much more dangerous as a million what-ifs ran through her head, he could imagine she thought the same.

"I walked clothes-lines all the time," Kyujin whined, "...Please?"

Ryujin glanced down and then at Hyunjin, thinking about when the wire was new and how she would sneak up at night while everyone was sleeping to practice. Cocky and dangerous.

It was better to practice where at least there were hands to catch and nets to throw out.

She watched Jisung cutting an apple for Jiwoo, leaned against a crate that Felix sat on, watching nervously.

"Drag out the net, would you?" She called down.

Hyunjin gave her one wide-eyed look, but she only had to flex her wrists once and he didn't question it again. He was walking backwards on the line, an encouraging smile plastered on his face as he waited several steps further from her.

“Heel to toe,” he coaxed, watching as her shaky feet betrayed her fear.

“W-why is it so… not tight?” her voice wavered, the line dipping under each step, a staff in her hands helping her balance better.

“Would you believe me if I said it’s easier that way?”

“N-no.”

Ryujin laughed behind her, “Smart girl.”

Hyunjin shook his head, “Wide grip on the staff, the staff is giving you wings, widen your grip.”

A small laugh broke her face, and she adjusted as he said, her shaking reducing as she did. It was one slow step in front of the other, Kyujin’s hunched back from the beginning slowly straightening as her confidence built, till she could take her eyes off her feet and proudly look at Hyunjin as they stood in the middle of the tightwire. 

“I did it!”

“Like a proper kitten, well done,” he said honestly, truly surprised at how quickly she picked it up, “Roll your neck, loosen up a little, and then we’ll–”

“Look out!”

It was at that moment their ponies let loose into the ring, brushing by the main support beam as it rode past just enough that the platforms above and the wire between it began to swing violently. 

Hyunjin immediately crouched and called out, “Lower your center of balance, lower– get down, Kyujin– ”

To her credit, Kyujin did try. Flailing and trying to regain her center, she tried to listen to Hyunjin and crouch down, but it was doomed from the start, Ryujin crying out from the platform as Kyujin pitched over the side–

Hyunjin lurched forward. 

There was a second where Hyunjin didn’t really register what happened– all he knew what the air moving like a strong wind as he reached down and Kyujin reached up, the tightwire cutting against his chest, and the stillness of the air pulled cold around them as Kyujin held on for dear life.

Her eyes were wide and terrified. Conflicted. Felix had gotten hold of the ponies, and he and Jisung were staring up at them. Jiwoo had screamed at some point, and was sitting on the crate with her hands over her face. He let out a nervous laugh.

“Well. I suppose you had to learn to fall sometime or another,” his grip on her wrist didn’t loosen, his voice quiet and even, “Alright, Kyujin. There’s a net below. I’m going to let you go, and you’re going to fall into it, alright?”

Kyujin gulped, and then nodded.

“Are you scared? It’s alright to be scared.”

She shook her head slowly, eyes on Hyunjin’s, “Not scared to fall...”

“Okay, good–”

“Scared to land.”

Hyunjin stared at her. There was something in her eyes, something about the conflict he couldn’t see in her mind, that made him realize it was deeper than what he’d heard. Her grip on his wrist wasn’t tight, wasn’t white-knuckled and terrified like he would have expected– and she truly didn’t seem to mind dangling over the edge of a terrifying fall. Her legs swung absently as she considered a thought fully. 

“...you’ll land in the net, Kyujin, it’ll be gentle, I promise.”

She looked down at it, pulling her legs up so they didn’t block a full and thorough view of it, “You trust it?”

“I trust Jisung and Felix, who tied it for us. And I trust the sailors we bought it from, who’ve tied nets to carry much heavier. And I trust each time that Ryujin and I fell into it and it never came undone,” he smiled, “Just… let loose. Relax. Enjoy the flight.”

Hyunjin hoped that Kyujin whatever she was searching for in his eyes as she nodded. She looked down, flexing her feet and wiggling her toes to prepare herself, taking a deep breath and holding it like it would help her float.

… not letting go of Hyunjin’s hand.

He let out a light laugh, tapping the inside of her wrist with one finger, before quietly asking, “ Hey, you want me to join you? ”

“Huh? Wha–?”

Before she could finish thinking through what he was asking her, he flipped around the wire, letting it go and relaxing every muscle in his body. 

“Whoo!” he let out a hoot as they fell, weightless and free.

Kyujin didn’t make a sound, not letting go of Hyunjin the entire way down, and very much not relaxed. He didn’t have time to do anything but laugh as they neared the net, and maybe Hyunjin imagined it, but they seemed to slow down, to suspend a little before they hit the net. 

They bounced up in the rebound, and in that moment, Kyujin finally let go to wrap herself in her arms. When they finally stopped flying, Kyujin was very quiet and still, and Hyunjin rolled to poke her as the twins ran to bring the ladder to help them down. 

“How was that, hm? Not too bad, right?”

She stared at him with her wide eyes, before bursting out into laughs, “We were flying! ”

Hyunjin couldn’t wait to get her on the swings. 

Kyujin squealed as Jiwoo poked her from below, asking very solemnly, “Are you dead? ” She jumped off the net without the ladder, surprising everyone as she headed straight back for the ladder back to the high platform before Hyunjin had even clambered down, halfway up before Hyunjin realized she didn’t harness herself, shaking his head fondly. 

“Lucky you,” Felix joked as they re-tied the net tight, “You’ve got a full fledgling on your hands.”

It was meant to sound like some sort of curse, but the way Kyujin hooked her arm around the ladder to wave down to him, enthusiasm brimming–

“Looks like I do,” He smiled, and added excitedly, “Can’t wait to put her on the swings–”

“ What. ” Chaeryeong paled, worryingly looking up to where Kyujin had caught up with Ryujin, biting her lip at the thought, “But she’s so young…”

Jisung raised an eyebrow, “You were younger.”

“But I never did swings– ”

It was too high up to hear her complain, and before long, Ryujin was full-body laughing as she sat on the swing while Kyujin hung from her knees below her, hands outstretched to feel the breeze between her fingers as Hyunjin kept throwing things for her to catch to strengthen her grip. Kyujin was light and swam through the air. She understood her weight and gravity intimately, and it wasn’t long before they were doing transfers, grips from bars to wrists, and landing on the platform. They were probably moving too quickly, but it felt natural for Kyujin. 

He and Ryujin watched her try a routine on her own, snacking on some of the old scones Mrs Kim had made, contemplating the way she moved and swung. Ryujin finally said it–

“Did we ever ask if she’d done this before?”

“She said she had,” Hyunjin pointed out, brushing the crumbs on his pants, “On clotheslines.”

“Yeah, but no, I mean…” Ryujin rested her chin on her knees, “I dunno. Maybe… maybe she’s the daughter of an aerialist.”

“...Oh?”

“A natural-born performer,” she reasoned, “I mean, do you remember how she introduced herself?”

“Maybe…” he whispered, watching Kyujin as Jisung set up the spotlights for the show and centered them on her, the young girl’s eyes sparkling and smile bedazzling as though she weren’t absolutely blinded, as though she enjoyed the light, “Or maybe…”

He shook the thought from his head as Park Jaesang stomped into the ring, holding his breath as the man crossed his arms and watched Kyujin critically. They’d spent the entire day up in the wires. 

Ryujin groaned, “If after all that he makes her perform tonight–”

“He can’t. She’s not ready, she’s only done this for one day. Barely. ”

“But he will,” Ryujin winced as she watched that faraway look of envisioning the crowds he could bring in break on Park Jaesang’s face, “Greedy old man.”

Sure enough, the ringmaster called them down, and the cold look he’d first given Kyujin was replaced with so much warmth and fondness, as he pet her head at the possibilities. Ryujin started chewing the ends of her bob to not choke on his insincere words–

“You’ve quite proven yourself, little cat! Jiwoo, you have some old clothes you can spare, can’t you? And Ryujin, get her makeup ready for tonight, won’t you? The show, the show! It goes on and if you don’t join, it goes without you!”

Ryujin laid all her paints and dusts for Kyujin to pick, giving her bright red over her eyes and dusting her cheeks at her request. It’s an odd pick to Ryujin, especially with the pink tights and black-blue of her makeshift leotard. 

“I’ve never had paint on my face before,” Kyujin absently swung her feet off the table as Ryujin finished her cat-eye, “It feels a little funny.”

“Well, they can’t see you way down in the stands, so it makes your face pop.”

“Oh,” Kyujin rounded her lips in surprise, blinking several times as though her eyelids felt different, “That makes sense.”

Ryujin shook her head fondly as she packed up her paints. 

“Yoo-hoo?” Mrs Kim peeked around the corner, her white face dotted with an exaggerated smile and a big red nose lighting the room, “Just wanted to give our little cat a proper welcome before the show!”

She fitted a sparkling cat-eared headband on Kyujin’s head, “There! Park Jaesang’s Traveling Circus has a new shining cat now! More show-stopping and bedazzling. But,” she leaned in with a wink, “Don’t tell our Dallie that, alright?”

As though she overheard, their show cat meowed from where she’d been harnessed by Felix, to wait for her act, and Kyujin giggled and thanked Mrs Kim vehemently. Jiwoo even popped out to give her a high-five before she went to hide in the barrel she would ride out into the ring with her sisters in. Jisung gave her good-luck noogie, and Felix gave her a thumbs-up at her completed outfit.

Kyujin went and wished the ponies, dog, cat, and a stretching Chaeryeong luck before returning to Ryujin’s side, bouncing from foot to foot in excitement.

She fit right in with them. 

Hyunjin ducked under a curtain, “Ready?”

Kyujin clapped her hands together, and taking Ryujin’s hand, ran backstage to the ladders with them. 

In the stands, the word had spread and more seats were filled, applause drawn out more eagerly and often as the show pulled through the acts. Felix didn’t have any peanut shells thrown at him, Jisung didn’t have to fake his smile for the crowd. Chaeryeong added little flourishes as the crowd cheered her on. The clowns tumbled in and out and pulled a few more gags for the pleasure of the crowd, throwing Jiwoo across the ring a couple times and pretending to almost drop her.

The show went smoothly. Kyujin marveled as Ryujin fell down in her hula hoop, as Hyunjin balanced them both across the highwire, and as they both swung back and forth between the platforms. She spent most of the performance latching and unclipping wires and safety locks, grabbing bars as they swung back empty after a transfer, swinging them forward when it was time for a transfer.

But she didn’t go unnoticed. 

When Hyunjin and Ryujin balanced and steadied together in the middle ring, Ryujin sitting as Hyunjin hung from his knees, they threw their arm to the side platform where the spotlight shifted and highlighted Kyujin, and the crowd cheered and stood, amazed at the small size of the girl. 

“And our newest aerialist, the tumbling-cat Kyujin!”

She took the swing as Hyunjin and Ryujin rocked back and forth in time, to the time of the drums that the clowns started beating, increasing the tension as they counted down the beats, Kyujin putting a foot out in anticipation as she waited for Hyunjin to reach the full arc of his swing before–

Ryujin and Hyunjin both held their breaths as she fell into the swing.

The spotlight trained on her as flipped to hook her knees around the bar, stretching her arms around.

She was a little shorter so their arms wouldn’t quite meet unless she–

Oh–

Hyunjin felt Ryujin tense, flexing a wrist in preparation just as he felt the air shift slightly. He kept his eyes wide open. 

And only saw Kyujin’s bright eyes as her knees let go of the bar before he had fully grabbed her.

Both his and Ryujin’s hearts stopped as gravity pulled them back down. 

And then Kyujin’s fingers hooked into Hyunjin’s. 

The crowd erupted in cheers.

As Hyunjin adjusted the grip to more securely grasp Kyujin’s wrists, he could feel her erupt in laughter.

She even kicked her legs up, tucked under her as she flipped so her head was down too.

It lasted for three swings, before Ryujin jumped to the next swing, hooked knees and outstretched arms to take Kyujin from him for one swing, and drop her on the platform, before dropping herself next to her. Hyunjin stood on his swing to follow them, and once all three of them were next to each other, hand in hand taking a bow, before jumping off and down into the net.

As they laid there for a moment, Kyujin still giggling and kicking in an absolute rush from the performance, Hyunjin slowly turned to Ryujin.

“Did you…?”

She shook her head, wide-eyed, “Didn’t need to.”

He stared at where Kyujin clambered down eagerly, running to Felix to high-five him, “...Huh.”

The rush of the show remained as Ryujin wiped Kyujin’s face of all her paint, as Hyunjin slipped into more comfortable clothes and listened as the little girl’s mouth ran and ran and–

“We could even do a flip!” she exclaimed, “I could flip over the middle swing for the next swing, and–!”

“ Over the swing?” Ryujin mumbled, “That’s a bit much.”

“But it would be amazing! ” Kyujin insisted, eyes aglow with a vision that was up in the stars that enchanted and endeared Hyunjin, “Or, what if you held to the swing with one hand like it were a hoop? And twisted on it during a swing? Oh oh, what if you did a transfer by grabbing someone’s feet? Oh, what if all three of us were hanging all the way down! That would be so amazing, wouldn’t it! It would stun the crowd, it would, it would!”

“Easy there, aerialist,” Hyunjin gently helped pull pins out of Kyujin’s long hair, realizing why Ryujin kept her’s short as pin after pin kept coming out, “We have a good routine to perfect for now. We’ll add little things, and slowly build for our coming shows,” he pulled off her cat ears and poked her puffed out cheeks with them, “But you’ve got a lot of good ideas. That’s good, little cat.”

She beamed proudly, and jumped off Ryujin make-up table to proudly go tell Mrs Kim, or Jiwoo, or anyone who would listen to her grand plans for them. Felix hooked his chin over Hyunjin’s shoulder, cooing, while Jisung passed him a drink, Chaeryeong looping herself around the back of Ryujin’s chair and shaking her head.

“HyunRyuKyu is rather spectacular,” Felix took a sip of his drink, “Everyone loved you all. She really completes the act, makes it feel more full.”

“Well, everything is better in threes they say, these three Jins, it has a nice ring to it too,” Jisung raised an eyebrow at Chaeryeong, “You’re welcome to do your twisty thing on a pony one of these days.”

Chaeryeong gave him a sarcastic laugh, “Nice try. I don’t fancy being bucked off twice, thanks. ”

“That was an accident! My bad! I admit it was! Won’t happen again! ”

“Uh huh, sure, big promises,” Chaeryeong shared a look with Ryujin, “Can you believe this guy?”

“Alright, alright, enough bickering,” Hyunjin held his drink out to cheers, “Where are the Kims?”

“The siblings sans Kyujin all went out,” Felix raised his glass, “Their loss. To ThreeJin!”

“ To three Jin~!”

Kyujin scurried from behind a curtain, wrapping her arms around Hyunjin’s waist with wide eyes, “To who?”

Hyunjin hooked his arm around her, throwing her up and catching her around the knees, “To you, little cat!”

And she threw her arm up with them.

🎪

There was something unmistakably off as they prepared for their last show of the weekend. 

Hyunjin had assumed it was just him, since he’d opted to give Kyujin his hammock and sleep on the floor till they had time to sew him another hammock. But then Ryujin slipped while securing the bars, and nearly didn’t fall inside the nets, and the dog had started barking wildly, and Chaeryeong snapped at anything that moved. And all the clowns weren’t accounted for by lunch. 

“Where are those kids?” Mr Kim tapped his foot impatiently, before clicking his tongue and throwing a coat on to go search for them in the town. 

Ryujin stared at him as he explained to their ringmaster for a moment, before jumping up and throwing on her own jacket as well, “I need some air.”

There was something dangerous about her nervous energy. Hyunjin wasn’t sure how he would feel if it only got worse during the show– it was hard to trust a routine partner who was brimming with nervous energy. 

“Stay in here,” he instructed Kyujin as she stitched old rhinestones into her outfit by Ryujin’s rack of clothes, “We’ll be back soon, alright?”

Her eyes were curious, but she nodded obediently. 

Hyunjin rushed out, hair in his face and coat barely on his shoulder as he tried to follow Ryujin. The village they were in was calm, unbothered. Plenty of alleys and neighborhood squares and stalls to pretend to wander through. 

He could barely keep pace with Ryujin. 

“Hey, hey– ” he took long strides to reach her side, “What’s wrong, what is it?”

Her brows were furrowed, her voice low, “No idea.”

They wandered the city for sometime, Hyunjin pulling Ryujin to a stop so she could grab some sweets to take back with them, grabbing a cat-bun for Kyujin, when their worries finally came into focus.

Harsh boots marching through the alley. 

Ryujin’s hand whirled out to grip his jacket. His blood ran cold. 

They both ran back to the warehouse before they saw the telltale insignia of–

“Fire nation? Here?” Park Jaesang groaned, face in his hand, “Bloody perfect.”

They all nervously gathered around him. There was no telling how the fire nation would feel about them– they weren’t benders, but they certainly pulled off some tricks that could seem threatening… maybe. It was hard to tell. 

“We have nothing to hide,” Jisung said harshly under his breath, “We’ve done nothing, not by their eyes. They’d be fools to come here.”

Ryujin bit her lip and tightened her hand on Kyujin’s hand, wondering how they would all feel knowing they harbored benders. That they harbored a bloodbender. 

They might not be threatening, but I certainly am, she thought bitterly. 

Hyunjin put a hand on her shoulder and gave it an encouraging squeeze. She wasn’t sure if it was comforting to know she wasn’t alone.

“The show goes on,” Park Jaesang said decidedly, “If they come, they come to watch. No matter, it’s our last performance in this town anyway. We perform, and we leave,” he swung his arm around in a circle, “Pack anything we can, we’ll leave as soon as we finish.”

Hyunjin crouched down and looked Kyujin in the eye, “Hey, don’t let it worry you. Don’t even think about it, you’re going to do great tonight, okay?”

Taking a deep breath, Kyujin turned her head up and nodded. For her, Ryujin and Hyunjin carried themselves about the worry and didn’t think about the fire nation at their doorstep. The older Kim kids eventually stumbled in, and helped them load up their caravans, very tight-lipped between themselves, whispering about the fire nation.

Chaeryeong narrowed her eyes at them skeptically as Jiwoo frowned at her big brothers and sisters and opted to help Felix back the food they’d gathered for the animals instead of listening to their gossip. They all thought and wondered as Mrs Kim scolded her children, but didn’t say anything. 

“They’re probably trying to strike a deal with the soldiers,” Chaeryeong guessed, before rolling her eyes, “Opportunistic fools.” She looked at little Jiwoo and Kyujin and waved a finger at them, “We’re all family now, you hear? All of us, we look out for each other.”

Both girls nodded fervently. It wasn’t hard to believe, truly and fully, for a child. The circus gave them livelihood, shelter, food. Family and friends weren’t too different when they protected you. Ryujin plastered a smile on her face as she helped them into costumes and makeup, Hyunjin trying not to pace nervously as he noticed some soldiers pull their helmets off and filter into the crowd. The warehouse was full. It would be hard to tell them apart in the dark. 

“Just another show,” Park Jaesang reminded them all, before adjusting his hat and pulling his rosy smile on, “And the show always goes on.”

It did. Everything went flawlessly, seamlessly. Felix and Jisung’s animals performed just as well in front of a crowd of one as in front of a rambunctious audience. Chaeryeong’s unnaturally flexible body was met with awe. The laughter felt louder with the clowns.

But there was one small problem. 

There, in the center of the audience, a small settee had been brought in, and a fire nation general in long robes sat, leaned back and observed the performance the entire night. His eyes were critical, and piercing, even from the top of the tightrope platform, in the shadows of the spotlights. 

And worse, he commented all night, loud and critical. 

“But can the cat sit on the dog on the pony?”

Felix gulped nervously, “B-but of course!”

He was lucky that his animals were used to his antics– he quickly finished his act in a flood of dove feathers, shaking nervously as he retreated backstage, Jisung prying the cat’s claws from the poor puppy’s back. 

“Can she walk on her hands, all contorted?”

Chaeryeong huffed, a sly smile as she twisted her body and gracefully crossed the low wire. 

“But can all the clowns fit in the box?”

Mr and Mrs Kim scratched their heads animatedly, and– surprisingly enough– managed to squeeze their bodies into the small space, the twins quickly running out to push it backstage as the act finished.

Hyunjin was drenched in sweat thinking of what the general would propose for them. Anything different or new was dangerous from these heights.

“We can handle anything,” Kyujin pumped her fists encouragingly at them, and they tried to to let their nervousness show as the drums began and the spotlight shifted to them.

They threw their arms and began their acts.

Ryujin in her ring– immediately down into the tightrope, where Hyunjin carried her on his shoulders, feigning falls and trips– immediately up the second set of ladders to the trapeze, where Kyujin awaited.

They didn’t leave room for the general to ask, didn’t let him put a word in.

Until the moment they unclipped themselves to push off and–

“What if the net was on fire?”

Hyunjin was already swinging when he saw the floor light into flames. The expensive net that they had taken care of was aglow, and Hyunjin’s heart was beating out of his chest like a rabbit. He caught Ryujin’s eyes on one platform, shocked still for a moment, but a smile plastered on her face nonetheless.

His swing came to the other side and he saw Kyujin. 

Sheet-white, bone-still, terrified. 

Just don’t fall, he thought to himself, Just as before. Just as we practiced.

He worried every time Ryujin’s hand left the bar, everytime her hands met his wrists, everytime they left. Their hands were sweaty. Not good. He watched as Kyujin passed Ryujin the chalk and she threw it to him.

Rubbing his hands with it, he tried to throw it back, only for it to fall into the flames, bursting into magnificent colors. The crowd gasped. In wonder. 

Hyunjin needed this show to finish quickly before something went wrong. 

Back and forth, swing after swing, until they were at the end of the act.

Hyunjin and Ryujin both on the same swing, watching Kyujin as she put a foot out, quivering in fear. They both wished she hadn’t been introduced to the act so quickly, wished they had hidden her away. They were drenched in sweat, it was getting hard to breathe. 

Kyujin looked like she would rather die than swing.

“And our newest aerialist, the tumbling-cat Kyujin!”

Everyone held their breath as she swung down. 

Flipped over, knees hooked on the bar. 

Arms outstretched, reaching–

She slipped.

Her eyes were blown wide, and Hyunjin felt Ryujin immediately bend her up, pull her back to them but–

Wind. 

Billowing, swirling, it came from outside the warehouse and filled the ring. 

Kyujin’s hands were wrapped around his wrists. The crowds stood in standing ovation. The three of them quickly moved to the platform and took their final bow in the spotlight of the fire below, shaky sweaty hands holding each other’s fingers tight.

Whether the crowd knew or not, the three of them did. 

When the spotlight left them, they stared at Kyujin. Her eyes were wide and scared, and she didn’t dare look at them.

Ryujin crouched down immediately, “Hey, look at this.”

She took Kyujin’s hand in her own, and swirling her fingers, pulled all the sweat out from her hand till it hovered in a ball above her palm. Kyujin gasped.

“You too?”

Ryujin winked, “Not an airbender, but. I have some tricks up my sleeves. This guy too,” she raised her eyebrows at Hyunjin, “He keeps his secrets too. You’re just like us, kid.”

Kyujin looked up at Hyunjin in relief, but he was staring out at the crowd. Out at the general. Who was staring at them intently.

“Down and out, down and out,” he whispered, gently pushing them to the ladder. 

Sliding down, they were met with Jiwoo throwing her arms around them, and several of the others making sure they were unharmed, all of them rushing to put the net out before it burned anything else before standing to take their final bow.

Park Jaesang stood in the middle, quickly looking everyone over to make sure no one was harmed before taking their hands and holding them overhead. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been Park Jaesang’s Traveling Circus, thank you for–”

“Traveling circus harboring fugitives.”

The warehouse went quiet. They all stared at the general as he stood.

“Park Jaesang, you have been accused of hiding benders,” the general cocked his head to the side, “Let’s see if that’s true, shall we?”

The soldiers got up, and to the horror of the little crew, stood at position to burn them. 

“Wait, please!”

“Fire.”

Between the flames and the screams that erupted, something unexpected happened. 

A rock wall from the ring flew up at their protection, the flames dispersing around them. Ryujin and Hyunjin and Kyujin’s hands that had been prepared to defend them all, met the wall in surprise, turning to each other in confusion. 

They all turned to the side to see–

“The townspeople,” Mrs Kim gasped, seeing a man from one of the stalls standing in a defensive earth bending position, “They’re… protecting us?”

The people were all in an uproar, and after the initial move, it was impossible to make out earthbenders from angry nonbenders simply throwing stones at the soldiers to drive them off. The chaos was in their favor. 

Park Jaesang clapped his hands, “Caravans, caravans, spare what you can we move! ”

They ran like hell was on their tails. Hyunjin’s heart broke thinking that they would have to rebuild the trapeze and tightrope again all on their own, the net they’d so carefully taken care of forever lost. But as he picked up Kyujin and ran, he supposed there were more important things that couldn’t be replaced. 

They ran out the back of the warehouse and into the caravans, the horses that didn’t perform at the ready to leave, galloping away with Park Jaesang and the Kims, while the ponies were hooked up to the caravan in the back in a hurry. Ryujin threw her things into the back of that caravan, and called back for them.

“Hurry, hurry!”

Kyujin gasped at his shoulder, “Behind you!”

“You there!” a soldier called out.

Kyujin leapt from his shoulder and let spun in the air, terrifying breeze disrupting the flames, long enough for Hyunjin to whirl around and–

It was a calculated strike, as he pulled the energy from his chest and shot it forth. 

Terrible, brilliant lightning shot forth and blew the side of the building. 

The soldier recoiled in shock. 

Hyunjin pushed a stunned Kyujin back, “Go, go!”

Three more soldiers rushed forward, Hyunjin deflecting each blast of flame back towards them as he tried to step back towards the caravan, trying to calculate how they would escape. 

He hadn’t missed firebending. 

“Hyunjin!”

The flames stopped.

The soldiers' bodies were twisted, muffled cries stuck in their chests, their eyes wide. Hyunjin spun around to see Ryujin, hands stiff, shaking from the effort, sweat beading on her forehead as she bloodbent.

Hyunjin ran into the caravan as he heard her push them back into the street, and called out to Felix and Jisung, “Go, go, go, quickly!”

They swung the door closed and collapsed on the floor. Kyujin was shaking, her teeth shattering– Hyunjin quickly wrapped her in his arms and pulled her to his chest. Ryujin held his arm and rested her forehead on his shoulder. 

“Damn… firebender, huh?”

“Y…yeah.”

“I think I understand why you didn’t tell me,” Ryujin shook her head, laughing, “I would have decked you. Man, I would have bent your blood till it came out of your eye–”

“ Okay! Very descriptive, I get it, thanks,” he pushed her away playfully, “My father didn’t appreciate me not joining the army. Or… openly challenging his support of the war.”

“Wow. Good for you.”

Hyunjin huffed out a laugh.

Chaeryeong and the twins loomed over them. Felix hesitantly helped them up and wrapped them in blankets, Kyujin still plastered to Hyunjin’s chest, shaking violently. Ryujin wrapped around her back, biting her lip. 

Jisung blinked at them a couple times, opening his mouth and shutting it several more, before finally deciding on:

“...Okay, that was pretty freaking cool though.”

They spent the rest of their escape in wild, manic laughter, hysteria probably getting the better of them as they sat in that small caravan headed for the hills and thinking of all those times when– “Hey, is that why you’re never sweaty?” or “Oh. So you did light that spotlight lantern on your own!” and “I see why you’re not afraid of heights, little cat!”

Chaeryeong frowned, “Although… aren’t there no more air benders in the world?”

Kyujin shrugged, “I grew up in Gaoling. My mother said her father was a refugee from the northern air temple…”

Felix looked at her sadly, “Did… did the fire nation take your parents?”

“No. They got sick and died,” Kyujin shrugged, “I don’t really know a lot about bending, except how to make it really really windy so people can’t see me when I run away,” her face sank, “I did a lot of running away…”

Hyunjin hugged her tight as Ryujin pinched her cheeks, “Well, now you're running with us, little airbender.”

Ryujin winked, “Proper runaway and misfits.”

“Your family!”

They all jumped as Jiwoo sprung up from underneath a pile of clothes, Jisung screaming from fear until Felix clamped a hand over his mouth to get him to shut up.

Chaeryeong was still in shock, still and wide-eyed. Ryujin stared for a moment, before throwing her head back and laughing. Hyunjin gaped, “How long have you been hiding there?”

“I was here the whole time,” Jiwoo pouted, “You just forget about me too easily!”

“Well, maybe you should have made some sound or made yourself known!”

“Well maybe you should have looked harder for me!”

And the little caravan of Park Jaesang’s Traveling Circus traveled quietly in laughter to another forgotten part of the Earth Kingdom. 

“Bet you Park Jaesang still doesn’t have a clue about us.” Ryujin whispered as their caravan slept.

Hyunjin snorted, eyes closed, “Oh I’d bet all my remaining chalk on that.”

“You’re both stupid,” Kyujin said between them, “he saw us bending before we left.”

“Dang it.”