[FEST; narye] Entertaining the crowd

[Ira Azariath]

Ira had no idea how she had let herself be talked into something as ridiculous as this. She had much better things to do yeah, right, but her friend's enthusiasm about this project had been enough to convince her to do it. And besides, it was just one evening - she could survive.

She sighed as she finished tying he hair into bun, and placed a copper head piece she had gotten as a present from her aunt and uncle when she turned ten over it. The faster they got this over with, the fast she would be able to get out of there.

Beside her, her companion was also done with his preparations, and he offered her a reassuring smile before he got up and started walking towards the opening of the tent, and Ira quickly followed him. As they were introduced to the crowd, Ira's amber eyes scanned the crowd for any familiar face, but there was no one to be seen.

Still, she was surprised by the turnout for this performance as she hadn't really been expecting anyone to take an interest in seeing two people fire bending. It was something that people could always see in this city as there were a lot of fire benders around, and the fact that the turn out had been so big made Ira nervous.

However, she also knew in the back of her mind that they had practiced this a thousand times until they were sure they could both play their part to perfection. After all, one of them could end up badly injured if something went wrong, and they'd rather avoid that if it was possible.

As they started their performance, Ira could feel her nerves disappearing as she flowed from one form to the next. It felt natural to her, and she had soon forgotten about the crowd. It was only when their performance was done and the crowd started cheering that Ira snapped back to reality.

She allowed herself to smile widely as both her and her partner bowed once to the crowd. The performance had gone better than she had expected it to, and now she was free to explore the festival freely. She would just leave her stuff in the small tent as it was highly unlikely anyone would go in there.

There was so much to see that Ira didn't know where to start, which resulted in her walking straight into someone. Ira could feel her cheeks burn as she spoke. Hopefully, the person wouldn't notice her blushing.

"I'm sorry I walked into you. I should have watched where I was going" she apologized, still looking at the person in front of her.

[Narye Matsuya]

The Masquerade Ball the other night turned out to be a very interesting affair, especially after he met a young woman and danced with her. The whole evening was enjoyable and he loved the fancy masked experience, something he probably never would have been able to go to if it wasn't a free event held by some rich tycoon. All in all, it was a night to remember.

But with that night and that young lady fresh in his mind, Narye decided that he also wanted to check out the Festival part of the festival. Not only was it still free, until he decided to start patronizing the many tent shops and vendors, but it was a more casual event and he could occupy himself with more down-to-earth fun.

Even before he stepped foot into the Fairgrounds Narye could feel the difference in atmosphere. For starters, he didn't have to wear a mask to fit into the theme of the event and he wasn't wearing formal clothes. Second of all, this was a more family-friendly part of the festival with more things to do for children and people who could do without the free wine. It made it a little hard to navigate the crowds, but that was to be expected.

Some of the more interesting attractions were actually the little shows and performances people were putting on, either as a group or as individual buskers who just showed up on the grounds. There was music, shadow puppet theaters, magicians, games of chances, and even some Benders were putting on demostrations/acts.

Judging by the light and "oohs" and "ahs" of the crowd nearby, there was some Firebending going on but Narye was too far in the back to get a clear view. It didn't really matter since it wrapped-up soon after he got near and he continued on his way to somewhere else, maybe to get a turkey leg or something.

While he was standing around, deciding which vendor to get some good old greasy festival food from, Narye was suddenly hit from behind, nearly throwing him off his feet. At first he thought it was just a wayward child or rowdy festival-goers. But when he turned around, he found a much better sight: Ira. A woman he had met at the Gym awhile ago, and they had it off pretty well.

"Hey! Ira! No, don't apologize. It's really good to literally have bumped into you, or you into me."

Judging by his smile and sunny tone, Narye was quite excited to meet Ira again. Nothing had really happened at the Gym, but he felt that there was a connection there. Maybe this would be a great time for them to get to know each other in a more casual setting.

"How have you been since the Gym?"

[Ira Azariath]

Ira and Narye had only met once, but she had definitely enjoyed their training session, even though nothing special had happened between them.

"I've been good, trying to split my time between work and training" She replied with a small smile. The work down at the power plant was hard and the pay was lousy, but coupled with the money she earned from her work as a fire bending instructor, it was enough for her to manage.

It seemed that all her time that wasn't spend on working was spend on fire bending training, which one might think was odd considering her view on her bending. Still, the reason why she had said yes to teaching people was that she did not want anyone to experience what she had experienced when she had discovered she was a fire bender.

Having been born into a village populated only by non-benders, she had had no one to teach her, as her grandfather, the only other fire bender in the village had passed away long before she was even born, and she did not want anyone else to be in a situation where they wouldn't have someone to teach them.

It had been her lack of control that had caused her to accidentally burn one of her younger siblings, and she never wanted to lose control like that again which was why, when she wasn't teaching or working, she spend a lot of time training by herself or meditating. Sometimes, other air acolytes would spar with her, but for most part, they left her alone, and she was fine with that.

"How about you, how have you been since we last talked?" Even if they had only met once before, there was no denying that Ira was enjoying Narye's company, and the fact that she had started trusting him so easily scared her. She had always been a loner by nature, and that coupled with the three years she had spend on the streets of Republic City had thought her that the only person you could ever really trust was yourself.

It was also during her time spend living on the street that she had gotten the scar under her right eye. It was in a run-in with a group of water benders who had claimed that she was trespassing on their territory that one of them had hit her with a sliver of ice, resulting in a small cut that soon had turned into a scar.

The scar served as a constant reminder about where she had come from, but even so, it wasn't anything she was particularly proud of. She hadn't been too happy about it at first, but over time, she had gotten used to it.

[Narye Matsuya]

Nothing too special had happened between the two of them at the Gym. They exercised together a little bit and Ira gave Narye some beginner's training in the martial arts side of Fire Bending. Of course, Narye was a Non-Bender and could not actually Bend, but he was still capable of learning the physical methods behind it. She taught him the breathing techniques that were apparently very important to Fire Bending, and some of the moves that still functioned as regular attacks without fire spewing from his fists.

However, he felt that there was definitely the potential for something to happen, similar to what he had felt when he went to the Masquerade Ball the previous night. Call him a tramp, but the night with Saaga had reinvigorated Narye's proclivity for persuing the fairer sex. It was a feeling that was difficult to convey to anyone but most other males.

"I've been pretty good, actually. I went to the Masquerade Ball the other night, and I've started teaching classes at the Air Temple periodically."

For the most part, life had been pretty good to Narye recently. The hollow feeling left over when his wife and daughter went missing had begun to shrink quite a lot lately. His memories of them would not fade of course, but he started to feel like he could honestly begin moving on.

"So what brings you here to the Festival?"

There was a moment where something clicked in his head.

"Oh! Were you doin' one of those Bending shows they got going around here?"