The ship of the newly-minted inspector-auditor set off on its journey, leaving the capital's harbor.
My journey with Azula was beginning!
And it began with routine matters and boredom. Traveling by sea was no longer new or fresh for me. I had grown tired of enjoying the sea views during our last trip to the capital after a month of training at Master Piandao's estate. The salty sea air had become familiar. The rocking of the ship did not bother me, and I didn't need sleep. And if before this was a great advantage, now it was more of a disadvantage for me.
There were very few things to do on a military vessel, and those that were available had already been tried. The intellectual games with Azula, in which my mind had to work hard to win, became boring. My game of being a super spy, with peeking and eavesdropping on everyone on the ship, as well as viewing other people's memories, was no longer as exciting as it was at first. From an exciting activity, this pastime turned into a boring routine that became very tiresome very soon.
And the very process of viewing another person's memories in the victim's sleep is far from ideal. It's as if I'm watching a movie the length of a human life. And this is despite the fact that the frames of this film can differ in quality and go in any order. I had to work hard to figure it all out. It became easier if I knew what I was looking for. At the same time, not knowing what to look for, I might not find what I was looking for. And there was a time limit—if I got carried away, I would kill my victim with my presence. Two souls cannot coexist in one body, especially if they are completely different from each other. And there was nothing interesting about watching another person's life, in most cases.
In general, it wasn't the most useful skill, which didn't have much benefit, but enough harm and risk. Unless it concerns Azula, of course. With her, everything is different; her memory is like my own, with every day recorded like a video on a computer. In a way, that's what it is; the brain is a supercomputer, the likes of which I have not seen in both of my lives. But still…
My mind needed a break—a rest—but there was nothing available. All I had left was to languish in boredom, doing my spiritual-routine tasks, and continuing my training, cherishing the dream of someday becoming human again, while keeping all the knowledge and power I had accumulated.
As for the princess… she was training.
Azula trained a lot. The girl couldn't, didn't know how, and didn't want to stop training. Under her influence, or rather, at her direct command, Mai also trained. Their friendly duels diversified the daily lives of not only the girls, but also mine. The friends got a lot of pleasure from fighting and putting their trained skills into practice. In addition to her childhood friend, almost all crew members suffered during training, as Azula considered training her ship's personal team as a form of recreation. A separate topic was the archer squad of the Yuan, who began to compete in throwing with her friend under the supervision of the princess. I myself was far from idle and actively trained in the embodiment of my body in the real world. This, perhaps, was the only training available to me. As soon as I realized that I could embody myself in the real world, I trained every day, almost all my free time. True, this tired my mind a lot, but the success in this matter was worth all the effort.
— Checkmate, Princess—I declared to the girl in a bored voice, not without pleasure, moving the rook to her king with my ghostly hand. After which, I relaxed, ceasing to hold the embodiment of my body.
The girl stared tensely at the chessboard, then made her move.
— Hmm, no, I won't lose! I definitely won't lose for the third time!—the girl answered irritably, barely holding back her feelings.
The game continued.
Winning at chess against the girl was pleasant, but even this game gradually bored my mind, although it was a good workout. The past couple of days have been monotonous and tedious for both me and Zula. Training, food, rest, training again, rest, rare conversations between Azula and Mai, who was even more bored than me, as well as training the crew under the princess's supervision. I took minimal part in all this life on the ship, occupied with my progress with the embodiment.
And so, after almost a week, I almost achieved my perfect embodiment and… I became bored. Maybe it was too fast, but I don't think other spirits have any problems with their embodiment in this world. To enter the world of people? Yes, that's a problem for them, but they can all interact with the world without exception. For them, it is as natural as walking or even breathing is for humans.
— Boredom…—I drawled, lazily watching the game board and the girl's waning patience.
— Stop teasing me; I'm about to win!—Azula replied aggressively, taking this as a personal insult to her own skills.
As I recently learned, the girl hated losing more than anything else in the world. She didn't like and didn't know how to, taking any loss too personally. She had to make an effort to keep herself in check. The girl either wanted to throw a tantrum and burst into tears, or beat me to death; that's how much my victories had gotten to her.
— Ah-ha-ha?! Right! I can't yawn—I remembered after a failed attempt to yawn from boredom.
After all, even though I look almost like a human and can interact with the world like a human, I am still not a human, and no one except Azula can see me on the whole ship. This is such a bore... it's amazing how I managed before? Oh right, back then there were completely different problems. When you're on the verge of death, you don't have time for empty thoughts and boredom.
— Hmm!—the girl just frowned even harder with anger in response. How cute; at such moments, she reminds me of a child more than ever.
— Do you know what your problem is?—at my relaxed look, she continued to bore into me with her intimidatingly cute stare with her brows furrowed. — Your problem is that having lost once, you start making more and more mistakes. It becomes too easy to defeat you all the subsequent times. Only the first time you give a worthy resistance; for all the other games, you run out of strength.
— No, that's not true!—the girl went into complete denial. Maybe outwardly she is already a quite adult and undoubtedly beautiful girl, but in some moments, the princess is still a child.
— Oh really? Fine. Checkmate, Princess—I finished the game in one move. Azula was too confused and didn't notice a number of my traps, which led to a brilliant victory.
This time, she couldn't even put up a decent fight. As I said: with each subsequent game, she becomes more and more confused.
— What?—the girl looked at the board in confusion. — Ugh… stupid game—the girl said, turning away in an attempt to hide her emotions.
— Boring…—I drawled in response.
Winning against the princess in this state is not interesting at all, and I don't want to drive her to hysterics with my victories, and to give up… no, that will only make her even angrier. And after defeats, a gambling spirit awakens in her, and she tries again and again until she is morally burned out. Even with the girl's memory, I was surprised to find this side of her character, which even Azula herself didn't suspect.
We sat in silence. Each thinking about their own. Azula was trying to deal with her feelings. An idea unexpectedly came to my mind!
— Azula, how about we have some fun?
— The last time you suggested a joint bath in that tone…—Azula recalled a recent incident.
— And I still don't see anything wrong with that! You're friends! Helping a friend with beauty treatments, what could be wrong with that? You could rub Mai's back, and she could rub yours…
— And you would watch us with your "pleased" look. And it would be good if you only watched—the girl finished for me, perfectly guessing my plan.
— Not only watch, but also give advice! And comment!—I met her gaze, and my face involuntarily broke into a smile at her expression. A kind of angry hamster-mongoose.
— You scoundrel…—the girl hissed coldly—People like you are called perverts. Do you have even a hint of a conscience?!
— Oh come on, we've already bathed together, and even…
— I don't even want to remember it!!!—the princess hissed even more furiously, not wanting to remember the moments of her weakness, when she couldn't even go to the toilet by herself.
— Just so you know, I'm still a man, and you're a woman... well, a girl in the prime of her life. We're simply drawn to each other. It's not perversion; it's a normal situation. We all have a need for attention; men are drawn to women, and women are drawn to men. If this didn't exist, humanity would have died out—I explained the simple truths of life to the young prodigy.
— Hmph!
With just one look, the princess made it clear where she saw my explanations. Not wanting to play anymore, she began to get changed and prepare for bed.
Right now, Zula was not in the best mood. I decided to discuss my idea with her tomorrow, with a fresh mind, when the girl had cooled down from her chess losses. It was evening; we always played a couple of games before bed. In a couple of days, we were supposed to arrive at a port where Azula would be checking the local government's work, while the crew restocked the ship's supplies.
— It's a shame we took so few books—I noted, wistfully looking at the modest shelf, which contained a little less than a hundred different books, each of which I had already managed to read.
— Someone just has too much free time—the princess grumbled, getting under the blanket and extinguishing the light with a snap of her fingers.
— Uh-huh…
After wishing each other good night, we fell silent.
After a while, the princess fell asleep, and I was left alone with my thoughts and boredom. I had thoughts of using the embodiment to scare the crew, but that was too childish and had its own problems. And I shouldn't forget about the spies; it's better for me to appear less in front of the Fire Lord's eyes and ears. He shouldn't know about my existence prematurely.
Maybe I should reread a couple of fiction books? Perhaps this is the best I have at the moment, although the reading was far from so interesting, but better than nothing. Maybe when I get a body, I should try writing books? However, that's definitely not what I should be thinking about right now. I have too many problems as it is.
The very next day, my ideas for board and entertainment games were criticized with all the princess's ruthlessness. Not all of them, of course, but most of them. Azula simply did not accept and did not want to play what she considered stupid games and a waste of time. However, we had too much free time, so some of the games I suggested were considered and still rejected. I wasn't considered as a third player, because for that, I would have had to explain too much to Mai about where I came from, and I didn't know many games for two with only makeshift items, and they were not very interesting. Especially if those two have personalities like Azula and Mai. And playing as two is not always as interesting as playing as three. The situation was not the most rosy…
— What to do, how to be…—I hummed thoughtfully to myself, floating in the air next to the princess.
— How about you be quiet? I'm trying to bathe here—the girl replied to me, not paying any attention to me, occupied with her morning routine in the bathroom.
— Boring…—I drawled with longing, glancing at the naked Zula. Unfortunately, all I could do was look at her. — If only…
— Stop. Did you just think about Ty Lee?—the girl unexpectedly interrupted me.
I turned around with interest, meeting the princess's slightly shocked gaze.
— Did she come to your mind too?—in response, I got a short nod.
Yes, it would be more fun with Ty Lee; from my memory, I knew that she was simply an inexhaustible source of positivity. And because of this, I wanted to meet her in person even more, and not through Azula's memories. I think with her, we could liven up our daily lives; she would definitely agree to play a couple of fun games. And three is no longer two; it would be much more interesting to play as three, and that's not even counting my person. And there was nothing surprising in the fact that sometimes the princess and I thought alike. We shared one memory, after all, and it happened very recently.
This day passed exactly like all the following ones. Except that the princess agreed to change partners for games, and I could watch a very strange and even somewhat creepy game of chess performed by Azula and Mai. Her friend gladly agreed to play a game, and after a short lesson on all the rules, they started a game. Both were silent almost the entire time, behaving reservedly and coldly; they probably felt uncomfortable. They very rarely exchanged short phrases. In a word, it was creepy.
While watching the game, I noticed that Mai was holding back a little, sometimes making moves that were detrimental to herself. This was interesting… but I wasn't in a hurry to tell Zula about it. I involuntarily caught myself thinking that I was simply staring at the girl, thinking about some stupid things. But it's okay, I'm still invisible anyway.
Having come to such conclusions, I continued to stare at Azula's friend, remaining unnoticed by anyone. The princess was too engrossed in the game, and Mai simply didn't see me, even if I stood right in front of her. I'd checked that in practice.
Mai usually spent her time either next to Azula, as part of her personal retinue, or in her chambers, which were located next to the princess's chambers. The girl's personal belongings included targets and various, small, throwing weapons. All day long, the girl would throw knives at the wall, rarely spending her days reading books. In general, her behavior was very calm and quiet, perhaps even too quiet and somewhat depressed.
Having studied her a little closer, I became interested in how she would react to me if she found out about my existence. However, even being material and able to interact with the world, I still remained invisible, which was very sad. The girl was starting to interest me; there was something special about Mai. Something that caught my eye, but I didn't know what it was. All I could do was hope that in the future I would be able to solve this mystery.
After another day, the ship reached the pier. The princess began to perform the duties she had taken upon herself, namely, inspecting and checking how her father's will was being carried out among the people.
While part of the crew was busy restocking provisions and fuel, another part went to gather rumors, news, inspect the city, and a small part of the chosen ones went to do this in a tavern. The princess herself was talking with the local governor at this time. The latter, at her very appearance, began to lie at the girl's feet, almost licking her boots—what a wretch. I winced in disgust at the courtier's sycophancy. After that, I decided to leave Azula's company and go to the city to see the sights. The girl did not comment on my actions in any way. We had already discussed my espionage capabilities; I would inform her of all the illegal activities in the city, but I wasn't going to try too hard to look for this crime.
It was an ordinary, unremarkable Fire Nation city, of which there were a huge number in this country. White walls of buildings, red slate roofs, rare architectural monuments, a bazaar, shops, and, of course, several factories. In all of this, a unified style of architecture was felt, even in the cobblestones of light stone.
The people here were ordinary and unremarkable. Except that they were all dressed not particularly pompously, but far from poorly, in a unified style, with a minimum of jewelry and without gold parts of clothing, which are allowed only to people of a special status, such as the imperial family. The differences of the common people were in the quality of their clothes and rare jewelry. Special attention was paid to the hair ring, by the presence of which one could easily determine the position in society of almost any person, unless, of course, they hid it. And where there is a higher position, there is also a lot of money. In fact, it was easy to distinguish bosses from subordinates by the presence of such jewelry and hairstyles appropriate for this jewelry.
Citizens walked calmly in broad daylight, without fearing for their lives. No matter where I flew over the city, I could not find any slums or other seedy places where crime could flourish. Even in the factories, people looked happy with their lives and their position. It turned out to be such a wonderful life for everyone with almost no hint of crime. But I simply did not believe in the complete absence of crime, knowing full well that this was impossible.
As I found out, crime in the Fire Nation was dealt with well, uprooting it and cauterizing it with fire just in case. Progress and stability only strengthened the level of a good life, even for the lowest strata of society. Throughout the day, I didn't even find a single homeless person. And this could be attributed to Ozai's merits, but no. All this was done by his father—Azulon, who ruled much longer than his son. And one shouldn't judge a country by one city, but what I saw, I liked. Although there were some issues, such as environmental pollution from the factories.
Their benefit was too high, but in the distant future, one should be concerned about this problem. Even now, one could be concerned about this and choose the location of the factories so as not to harm anyone, as well as apply at least some waste treatment processes. However, it's expensive and no one is interested in it, especially the asshole who sits on the country's throne.
While studying the local sights of the city, I came across the first mate of the captain, Na Liwei. The man fully justified his name and was already sitting in a tavern and pouring himself another glass of a strong drink. Fortunately for him, he managed to do all his work, after which he could relax with alcohol. Attracted by his military uniform, he was quickly surrounded by young girls, listening to the stories of a real sailor with adoring eyes. Watching him, I myself had a desire to relax in a similar way with good company. I don't have a body, of course, but I can always come up with something, and alcohol makes a person so open. This could be used.
It was thanks to my efforts that among the restocked supplies, one box of the best sake and one box of the best wine in the city were recorded. For the princess's personal use, so to speak…