If I Could Fly

Currents.

There were many songs and peoms about how beautiful the women of Ba Sing Se are. Truth is: they were not. Sure, there were beautiful women, a few, just like in every other city. Most girls in Ba Sing Se were actually poor, dirty, and kind of scary. Not the good kind of scary. There was a good kind of scary, though, the kind of woman who knows exactly what she wants, and how to get it. Varrick's ex had been that kind of woman, that's why he had to leave Tao La. He wondered if she was still wating for him to come back from that meeting. She probably wasn't. Varrick liked dating clever girls. Well, not too clever, but not totally dumb. Dumb girls didn't realize how bad he treated them. Clever girls did, and then left him. Most of the time. That was good. He did not like breaking up, so it was better if they did it first.
Varrick was not a person who enjoyed being alone, but he also could not stand being surrounded by the same people for long. Some people stayed a few days, others weeks, a few months before being crossed out of his life. That's why he liked Ba Sing Se, it was full of people. He could talk to someone on the streets and be almost completely sure that he would never see them again. He also liked a certain Coffee Shop. It was a small place, near the university, always filled with students. He liked going there in the evening, when it was not that crowded, to work on his smaller inventions. He stopped walking down the street to flirt with an slightly more than average pretty woman, but he really had no intentions, he had to finish his work today. There weren't many people in the Coffee Shop, a couple on a couch, a small group of boys and girls, probably students, and another girl, of which he could not tell if she belonged to that group or not.
Varrick sat down at his usual table, a bigger one, for four to six people, and unpacked his stuff. There were many screws, cables, and tools. His plan was to make a device that could show a sailor how the current will be in up to two days. It did not work at all. He ordered tea, green, with honey and a slice of lime. He did not even know whether the lime actually did something to the taste, he just got used to drinking it like that. He fiddled around with his tools for about an hour, talking to himself. „Why doesn't it...? Where the uh..." He frowned, looking through his stuff. „Oh no, Varrick, you left the thing in the hotel." He facepalmed. When he took his hand off his face, he frowned, confused about seeing another hand, a small, female one, holding out a spring. He looked up at the girl the hand belonged to. It was the one who had been sitting with the students, but not really with them. She was not pretty, but she was not ugly, eíther. She was pretty average, but not even that, she just looked like... nothing. An empty sheet of paper, a brick wall. Like something no one would even bother having an opinion about. Varrick narrowed his eyes. „Where did you get that?" She tilted her head, only a little bit. „Inside my ballpoint pen", she said. „...Sir", she added, probably realizing that he was older and richer than her. She was probably around twenty, possibly younger, it was hard to tell, because she was dressed very old fashioned. „And why do you think I need that?" „You could use that instead of the spiral spring you left at the hotel, Sir." Varrick looked at the device, then back at the girl. „Have you been stalking me?", he asked. She did not flinch nor show any kind of embarrassment. „A little bit. You were talking to yourself, and I was done with studying." He nodded. That was not that weird. He, too, liked watching people. And he generally enjoyed being watched. He took the spring and added it to his invention. „It works!", he said looking back at the girl. „You are not as stupid as you look!", he claimed. He knew that that was rude of him, but he really did not mind. He did not want to impress this girl, and did not want to push her ego. She was obviously clever. Clever and confident was not a good combination for a young woman. „Thank you, Sir", she said. Now that was weird. He did not expect her to throw a drink at his face or make a scene, but he also did definitely not expect her to thank him. He looked back at her, but she was looking at the device. „You need to reattach those cables", she said, pointing at them. „This one has to go there and this one has to go there. Then it will work." Varrick stared at her. „Do you even know what this is?" She nodded. „I believe it tells the tides." „Wrong", he said. „Maybe you're not that clever, anyways. It tells the currents." The girl nodded, again. „Sorry, Sir." He was not sure what she was apologizing for. He did not really care, either. Varrick got back to work, reattaching the cables. She had been right. It worked exactly as it was supposed to. After some minutes he looked at the girl, again. She had gone back to her chair, reading a book. „You!" he said. She looked up. „What are you doing?"Once again, she tilted her head. „I am an engineer, Sir. Finished studying this summer." He nodded, barely noticing how weird it was that she knew exactly what he meant. He also did not think about the fact that she was to young to have finished studying. He stroke his chin. „Do you happen to need a job?" For the first time, she seemed to be surprised. „I actually do, Sir", she said. She had hesitated. Barely, but she had. He did not care why. „Great", he said, putting his stuff in his bag. „Tomorrow, 10 am, at the Green Hills Hotel. President Suite." He left the shop. Outside, he stood in front of the door, having the feeling that he had forgotten something important. It came to him after about a minute. He went back inside. „You, what's your name?" She did not even look up from her book. „Zhu Li Moon, Sir."