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Beila goes home. Chali's not going to be home until late. She gives Ranyi an abbreviated version of the official story. She writes. She goes to bed.
In the morning she sends Dao a message:
Are you mad at me?
roc_on
thinklikethis
In midafternoon (not an astonishing amount of time for Dao to have taken to answer a message), he answers: Not exactly.
thinklikethis
Almost immediately: I don't know. It's complicated.
A few seconds after that: Mad at myself mostly.
A few seconds after that: Mad at myself mostly.
roc_on
That would seem to be it for a while.
She meditated most of the morning; she's not sure she can actually practice bending without shaking, but when she tries that, she can.
Does she technically have a lesson scheduled for today? Yeah, she does. Should I show up? she writes to Jun.
fiery-delights
I'm probably in better condition to teach than I was yesterday. We can try it if you want.
fiery-delights
Jun does, actually, look a lot better than he did last time they attempted a lesson.
"Hey."
"Hey."
fiery-delights
"I'm all right," he shrugs. "Not to say that I don't have some stuff to deal with now, but I can deal with it in my own time, it's not such an... active situation anymore. How about you, are you okay?"
roc_on
"Not sure how Dao's going to shake out in the medium to long term, but - with respect to myself I'm basically fine."
fiery-delights
He nods. "Well, I finally tracked down that mirror. How do you feel about working on wings?"
fiery-delights
He smiles, and gestures to the enormous mirror that now covers one wall of the practice room.
fiery-delights
The mirror does a good job of showing her all the small asymmetries and imperfections. But yes, those are some recognizable flaming wings she's got there, if a little small and wobbly.
"Pretty good," says Jun. "Try it again."
"Pretty good," says Jun. "Try it again."
fiery-delights
Jun offers tips on how to improve her results. Progress is slow but, with the mirror, very noticeable.
roc_on
It's kind of relaxing to work at chipping away small imperfections a little at a time on a single task.
And the wings are pretty.
And the wings are pretty.
fiery-delights
So pretty!
A few times during the lesson, Jun demonstrates the kind of wings it is possible to achieve - the broad graceful sweeps of flame he uses in his shows are one thing, and they're pretty enough, but when he puts in visible concentration and effort he can produce something with individual feathers.
"That one's not show-ready yet. Can't have people thinking these things take work."
A few times during the lesson, Jun demonstrates the kind of wings it is possible to achieve - the broad graceful sweeps of flame he uses in his shows are one thing, and they're pretty enough, but when he puts in visible concentration and effort he can produce something with individual feathers.
"That one's not show-ready yet. Can't have people thinking these things take work."