'Avatar'... perhaps there was significance to the title after all. Maybe it was the title that, to humans, was equivalent to 'she who controls the elements', her title among spirits. She could at least understand that much. Different cultures sometimes had different names for the same thing. It almost made her feel silly that she had not figured this one out sooner, but it was what it was. She could not go back and change time, and even if she could, perhaps she wouldn't. Memories of her own childhood were hazy until around 4 or 5 when she was able to walk and talk and otherwise act fairly independently. The mysteries regarding where she came from, who she was, and who her parents were, were all perhaps mysteries for another time.
While some might have pushed the nomad away with accusations of being nosy and overly curious, Shui was more the opposite, inviting her to sate her curiosities in whatever ways Shui could use to answer. On the other hand, she did not know entirely what it was like for the world to be out of balance, having not yet experienced it, but the balance she felt was something that she had inadvertently kept during her travels, and she knew at least, that that was something she wished to valiantly preserve.
With an understanding nod, the sojourn in the spirit world came to an end, almost in a dazzling array of colored light, but sure enough, the feral woman was sitting exactly where Yolen had seen her last, her expression serving as something of a defiance to the rest of her appearance. Sure she was a bit dirty, and her posture could use a bit of work... and her fashion sense wasn't exactly sociable, nor was her hair exactly clean or neat, but the serene and focused expression held on her face in those final moments before she broke her trance could tell a lot about who she was on the inside.
"Di'n 'xactly learn much lingo m'self." she grunted. Her regular voice was a bit lower than the one from the spirit world, "Hope it ain'ta prob'm." Despite her crude and broken speech, Shui appeared to be exuding the same aura and personality that Yolen had encountered with her as a spirit. In truth, honesty was one of the avatar's strongest virtues. She had never needed a reason to lie, and so she always told the truth to the best of her ability or as far as she could understand it. But, she had also promised a demonstration, and so a demonstration she would give.
Standing up and taking a breath, she glanced around to double-check that her immediate surroundings were clear before speaking briefly.
"Here... git." She made brushing, dismissive waving movements with her hand towards the airbender as if telling her to move back (well, either that or for her to beat it and scram, but considering the attitude she held and the conversation that they had had, that seemed rather unlikely), because she didn't want her accidentally in range. With nothing that she could potentially jeopardize, Shui spun rather elegantly before flipping onto her hand, kicking bursts of air from her feet. Following up from this, she kicked her feet, bringing tendrils of water from the nearby marsh, landing back right-side-up and then using her hands to direct the tendrils in a sweeping arc around and behind Yolen before returning the water to its home in the puddle. As she relinquished control of the water, her foot had risen, only to come back down and conjure up a slab of rock and mud, which she launched forwards, a few meters to Yolen's right, by aiming her fists forward. She finished this little demonstration by thrusting her hands out on either side of her, spewing flames from them and from her mouth before allowing them to dissipate as to not accidentally set anything on fire.
"Mm." Shui mumbled with a nod once she had finished, extending her hands and curling her fingers back and forth in inviting motions as if to imply that it was safe to approach the avatar again. After all--at this point there wasn't a shadow of a doubt that this wild woman was definitely the Avatar. A demonstration like that was pretty much impossible to deny. While she did not say anything, Shui hoped that her blunt and somewhat crudely-constructed words had not been a detriment to their meeting or (potential?) friendship. Learning the language more properly was definitely a practical thing to do, but given the way Shui liked to distance herself from people, it was a slow and difficult process for her. Hopefully the airbender would understand.
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