Mai groaned. Her feet were killing her. As she traveled down the forested Earth Kingdom road, she wondered again how she could have let that kid make off with her ostrich horse. If she ever saw him again, he was going to be sorry.

There were no villages on her map for miles. Unless she found a friendly family of hicks out here (she could almost hear the banjo music), she was going to be spending the night in glorious mother nature. Great.

Up ahead, the road curved out of sight around a bend. All around her, birds chirped and squawked. The setting sun was shining through the trees, rays of light falling gently. It was, all in all, a beautiful day. And Mai hated it. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it Mai? she thought. Everything else is happy to be alive, and then there's you.

As she came around the bend, she was brought short in her contemplation. A small village lay before her. Actually, calling it a village might be an overstatement. A few shacks leaned drunkenly around a opening in the trees. In the center, one building took precedence, although that was more by default than any worthwhile qualities it possessed. Anywhere else, it would barely pass muster as a small house. Here, she read the bark wood sign: Inn.

At any other time, Mai would have looked down on this place. She would judge it based on the opulence she had known, and even by the less advantaged neighborhoods she had been to. If she had transport or time, there was no way she would have stopped here. And even now, if she wasn't so tired, she might have considered (for a moment at least) roughing it in the woods.

But in this moment, this ramshackle backwoods inn looked beautiful. Mai was tired, weary, and done with traveling for the day. Her legs, realizing how close they were to the end of the road, became slack, and she knew that she had gone as far as she could today. Though she schooled her face, the rest of her body could barely contain its relief at the prospect of rest.

She walked to the doorway, which was covered by a blanket instead of a door. She paused. How...quaint. She brushed the blanket aside and stepped through the doorway. She stood on the threshold for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the lower light level in the building. There was a rickety chimney in the corner, with two chairs beside it. On the other side (inasmuch as such a small room could be said to have sides), there was a counter with a stool next to another doorway, with another blanket curtain blocking it. And at the counter stood a young woman, about Mai's age, who plastered on a big smile when she saw Mai come in.

Welcome to the Changbai Inn! My name is Jin. We offer supplies, food and drink, and a great place to rest on your travels!" the young woman recited perkily.

Mai didn't respond at first, taking in the shabby room, before responding. "Right..."

Jin's smile fell slightly, but returned a moment later. "That's right! We are the best accommodations for miles around," she stated, trying to emphasize to her would-be customer that beggars-can't-be-so-snooty position.

Mai just laughed humorlessly. "I guess you could say that," she replied, taking the other meaning. The girl behind the counter pouted for a moment, then decided that it wasn't worth fighting for.

"Well, if you need anything, let me know." She stepped back and leaned against the wall, letting her gaze wander to a spot on the wall over Mai's shoulder.

"Actually, I need a room," Mai said.

"A room?"

"Yeah, you know, since you're an Inn?" Mai snarked.

Jin stared at her with a blank expression, and Mai was tempted to smack her own forehead. But the blank look was quickly replace by a wide grin that wouldn't look out of place on a cat owl. What now? Mai wondered.

"I'm so sorry," Jin began, in a sweetly solicitous tone, "we're full up."

"WHAT."

"We...are...full...up." And she smiled brightly, tilting her head to the side sweetly.

"How are your rooms filled?" Mai was starting to get upset. "Who comes here? How can you be an inn if no one comes here and you're full?!"

Jin kept looking like the cat owl that swallowed the sparrowkeet. "Well, it's like you said. We don't get a lot of travelers here. The only reason this Inn is even able to function is because it is also the tavern, and the shop for our little village."

Mai sighed and rolled her eyes. "OK, I get it. But how can you be full then? Is there a convention in town?"

The girl cocked her head. "Oh no, nothing like that." And then went back to smiling at Mai.

Mai groaned internally. This obfuscating, no help giving, smug little...

Finally the girl continued. "We have one room, and someone came in today before you got here and booked it. I'm sorry." The girl didn't look or sound particularly sorry. In fact, Mai was sure she sending a very decipherable code message between the lines.

Mai was torn between letting this nuisance know exactly what she thought of her, and her ONE ROOM INN, or trying to be nice and start over. She could imagine that either would be about as effective, but she knew which one would make her feel better.

Before she could continue this particularly rewarding conversation, she heard yelling and a crash from outside. The girl at the counter sighed and her face fell. Mai quickly read her expression. There was fear, tempered with something else. Resignation. Interesting, but not as interesting as potentially getting a chance to take out her annoyance on something. She schooled her expression, but the hint of a smirk still touched the corner of her lips as she rushed out the doorway.

As she stepped through the blanket that served as a door, her veteran eyes took stock of the situation. Three standard toughs, maybe bandits if you gave them enough credit, were harassing some girl. Typical shit, she thought. Then she smiled. Thank the spirits for little things. She reached for one of her knives when the girl started dancing. Water started floating out of nowhere, and as Mai's mind snapped to "Water bender", the three toughs went down in a wet pile. Mai sighed and then turned her attention to the water bender...who was somehow deep in Earth Kingdom territory.

The villagers came out to gawk at the three men groaning in a pile. Mai kept them in her peripheral vision as she approached the water bender, but they didn't seem to be planning on getting up for the moment. She turned her focus to the girl, and at this distance, she was jarred by the recognition. The dark skin of the water tribe, blue clothes (This really should have been more obvious, She thought), and those...hair loopies? "Katara?"

The water bender turned and fixed those amazingly blue eyes on Mai. Seriously, how can they be so blue? "Mai?" Katara squinted. "Mai!" She waved happily, with no self-consciousness. A few of the villagers looked at them. Mai hunched, but Katara was still waving at her, so she managed a little half wave of her own.

Katara walked up to her, smiling and radiating sweetness. Mai wondered how exhausting expending that much energy must be. I guess some people are just always on, she thought, thinking of her friend Ty Lee.

"Hey Mai, how are you? What are the odds of seeing someone I know way out here?"

Mai shrugged. "Good enough, I guess, since we're here now."

Katara's smile faded just a notch, before returning to it's usual level. Mai groaned at herself internally. Do you have to piss off everyone you meet?

"I guess you're right. Well, I'm glad to see you anyway."

"Me too. It's...good to see a familiar face." Mai was slightly surprised to realize that she meant it too. She decided to also chalk this up to her being tired.

Katara's smile now went up a few notches in intensity, and Mai had to resist a slight urge to cover her eyes from the brightness. "Wow Mai, coming from you that's almost a declaration of love!" Katara laughed.

Mai rolled her eyes. "You wish. So what brings you to this spirit forsaken wonderful place?"

I'm actually passing through, on my way to Omashu. It was getting late, so when I found this village, I was glad to find out they had an inn."

"Yeah, hate to break it to you, but the inn is booked up," Mai replied.

Katara looked quizzical. "That's not what they told me," she said, holding up a room tab. Mai stared at her blankly for a second. Did the girl at the counter lie to me? she wondered. Were there really no rooms, or did Sweetness here get more flies than my vinegary ass could- And then it hit her. Katara had the room.

Katara's quizzical look turned into a small laugh. "You wanted a room at the inn too?"

Mai glumly looked at Katara holding the room tab and nodded. She wanted to ask Katara if they could work something out here, but was hesitant to reach out like that.

Katara laughed. "Well, that's wonderful!" Mai quirked an eyebrow. "We'll share the room! No problem at all!"

Mai smiled back, half of her eagerly grabbing the chance to sleep in a bed (oh god, what would the bed be like?) while the other half was suddenly nervous. She had shared beds before, with Ty Lee and Azula, but she knew them well. Katara was, not a stranger, but definitely not someone that Mai would have considered spending the night with.

This is stupid, she thought. Katara's a girl and we know each other and we're in the middle of nowhere and there is one room. So deal with it! She let out a breath and the nervousness passed.

"Thanks Katara, you're a life saver," she dead panned. Katara smiled.

Then they heard shouting. The ruffians that Katara had subdued had gotten back up. Mai was surprised that no one had apprehended them yet. She drew a couple of her throwing knives and sank into a ready stance, and Katara beside her did the same, her water flowing around at eye level.

The villagers were just standing around, watching the ruffians, with listless expressions. With this much resistance, Mai was surprised this village still stood. One of the ruffians was holding his arm and yelling. "You all are gonna pay for this! You know that the Changbai Gang runs this place!"

Whenever he caught the eye of a local, that person looked at the ground. Mai grit her teeth. This was pathetic. Maybe this town deserved this level of harassment.

Then the gang member turned towards Katara. "And you! You're really gonna pay! You don't even know what you stepped in, Water Tribe-er, but we're gonna tell our boss and this whole village is gonna get a reminder of who's really in charge here!"

Mai was tempted to peg him with the handle end of one of her throwing knives, just for the crime of being a small time asshole with delusions of grandeur. But she was surprised when Katara spoke.

"Tell your boss I'm waiting for it!" Mai and the ruffian both looked at her. "What?" the tough yelled. "What?" Mai whispered.

"You heard me. I'm not afraid of your 'Boss'," Katara yelled back. "In fact, I'm waiting for him. Tell him I want to see him tomorrow, or I'll know he's a gutless coward!" Mai just watched her, wondering. Where the hell is this coming from?

The crook was just as taken aback. "You WHAT?! That's it, you're dead! Do you hear that? DEAD!" He took a step forward, but Katara grinned dangerously and swung her water whip around a bit for emphasis. The tough gulped. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow, when our boss comes, you're dead!" He turned and motioned to his compatriots. "Let's get out of here." They took off into the woods.

Mai took aim with one of her knives, but Katara put her hand on her arm. "Let them go."

"But why?" Mai asked incredulously. "They're going to get reinforcements!"

"I'm counting on it," Katara replied, and again Mai saw the hard grin, that didn't go up to her eyes. Mai was beginning to realize that she knew even less about Katara than she had thought.

"You want to share the room?" Jin asked.

"Yes, if that's okay," Katara replied. "We know each other." Mai stood back, not wanting to get on the innkeeper's bad side again.

Jin smiled her business smile. "Of course there's nothing wrong if you two are okay with it, but I'll just remind you that the Changbai Inn is not responsible for any lost or stolen property while you stay-"

"We get it," Mai snapped, cutting her off. The two glared daggers at each other, until Katara laughed placatingly and put her hands on Mai's shoulders, leading her to the room.

"Thank you so much," Katara called back, as they entered the modest bedroom. Mai took it in. Based on the size of the building and how much the front room took up, she didn't know what else she had expected.

A little over half of the room was taken up by the bed. It was bigger than a single sized bed, but it still wasn't big. Yet it almost touched both walls width wise. What was left of the room was taken up by a small table and two chairs. It was the bare minimum that could ever be called an inn room. At least it was clean.

Mai sat down on the foot of the bed. "Ohhh..." she moaned. "Oh, that feels good." Katara smiled at that and sat down at the table, allowing Mai to enjoy the bed, although she was just as tired. The bed itself was a bit saggy, but Mai didn't care. She felt like she could drift off right now if she laid down. But she resisted. There was something she wanted to deal with now, while it was still fresh.

"So, what do you think of this wonderful part of the world?" Mai asked sarcastically. Katara put her finger to her mouth and motioned to the blanket door, implying that others might hear. It took Mai a moment to realize that Katara was worried that the innkeeper might be offended. She smirked at that. "Don't worry, they know it's a hole."

Katara gasped.

"And if they don't, then I'm sorry I had to be the one to break it to them," Mai continued, grinning. She almost hoped that Jin was listening in. Katara shook her head exasperatedly.

"Come on, Mai, these people are just trying to make it here," Katara said, trying to guilt her.

"Well, they're not trying very hard," Mai replied. "Have you seen this place?" Katara opened her mouth to respond, but didn't have anything to say. "And the way they all rolled over when those loser thugs showed up." Now Mai turned her sharp gaze onto Katara. "By the way, what is your deal, anyway?" Katara blinked and noticed something on the wall. "Beating those guys up, I can understand. But why are you picking a fight with their entire gang? Do you really have nothing better to do?"

Katara looked at the floor. She mumbled something in response. "What?" Mai asked.

"I couldn't just leave things like this."

"What are you talking about?" Mai asked. She cast her mind around, trying to understand what could be motivating the other girl. "These people don't even care what is going on here, and both of us have more important things to be worrying about. You're on your way to Omashu, right? Well, so am I. I was assigned to go by the Fire Lord," Katara noticed the formal title, "and I'll take a guess that you are going on the same business." Mai aggressively shrugged at Katara. "So why are you starting gang wars in backwoods hamlets?"

"I can't walk away from this. Look at these people, they barely have anything, and on top of that, they have to worry about thugs coming in and taking what little they have!" Katara forcefully stated.

Mai pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, I get it-"

"Do you?" Katara accused.

Mai glared at her. "I GET it. You want to help. But even if that gang shows up tomorrow and we kick their asses," Katara also noticed the use of 'we', "we can't stay here and protect them forever. At some point they need to stand up to people like that. Or else another group of bandits is going come in right after we leave."

"Well, that's what I'm trying to do!" Katara replied. "If they can see someone stand up to the bullies, they might have hope. If they are free from raiders, then they might have strength. And if they have hope and strength, they will be able to stand on their own two feet." She sighed. "That's my goal here."

Mai sighed as well. It was admirable. She just didn't know how realistic it was. Mai knew that she had a cynical streak, but the nice thing about being cynical was that you were never disappointed. Dreaming could get you hurt.

Mai weighed her options in her head. First off, she was sharing this room tonight. In the morning, however, she could just continue on her journey. But that was too cold, even for her. This is what was so frustrating. She didn't have any dog in this fight, and yet she couldn't leave Katara to sleep in the bed she had made.

"Fine, I'll help you take out the bandits. This will let the villagers go on with their lives. Will that make you happy?"

"Oh thank you, Mai!" Katara said as she got up and hugged Mai, sitting on the bed next to her.

"Sure..." The two leaned back on the bed and let out a synchronized sigh of contentment. After a long day, it was time to sleep.

"Come on, Mai, we should get ready for bed," Katara said, not moving from her spot.

"Mmm..."

"Come on, Mai!" Katara persisted, hoisting herself up onto her elbow and shaking Mai with her other hand. "Don't fall asleep!"

Mai opened one eye and peered at Katara, wondering how she could be caring about anything after her back had hit the mattress. Instead, she merely replied, "Can't move." Katara laughed tiredly and continued shaking her shoulder until Mai grudgingly got up. Neither had a lot of supplies, so they would probably just take off their outer clothes and shoes and sleep like that. They began to prepare when they heard a knock at the Inn entrance.

They looked at each other, and Mai's mind went first to the idea of someone else wanting a room. How could so many people be coming through this town? Then she thought of the toughs from earlier, and the possibility that they had come early.

She took out her knives, and Katara's face hardened, as she tensed up. But they heard a polite knock at their doorway, and Jin called to them. "May I come in?"

Mai and Katara looked at each other again, and Katara called out, "Okay."

Jin stepped through the doorway, and glanced at each of them. Her gaze was caught by the sight of Mai's knives, and she swallowed. "There's some people from the village that want to talk to you outside." Katara relaxed at this, but Mai kept her guard up. Something was fishy here.

They walked into the first room, and could see through the open air windows a crowd had gathered. Katara hesitated, but then continued toward the doorway. Mai grabbed her shoulder and shook her head. She turned to Jin, who had gone back behind the counter, where Mai could now see a pallet on the floor (she slept in here?), and asked, "Can you hold open the door for us?"

Jin and Katara looked at Mai quizzically, but she nodded. She went to the doorway and pulled back the blanket and held it so they could see outside. At the head of the crowd, an middle aged man with a gray beard and a straw hat held out his hand. "Hello. My name is Toru. We need to talk with you alls."

"Then talk," Mai replied, sternly.

The man scowled. "Can't you come outside for a moment?"

"I can see you just fine from there," Mai replied. Inside, Katara and Jin exchanged worried glances.

Toru glared at her. "Look, you've caused enough trouble in our village. The Changbai Gang is made of people that used to be from here."

Katara came to Mai's side. "They joined the gang and then turned on you? That's terrible!"

He glared at Katara now. "They don't cause us any trouble, if we don't cause them any trouble!"

Katara blinked. "Then who-"

"They prey on outsiders," Toru replied. "People just passing through, who have no ties to this place."

Mai's eyes widened, but Katara was still confused. Or in denial. "But we're travelers."

"Yeah, and you had to go start a fight in our village! And now their head honcho is gonna think we're trying to pick a fight with them, and we might all be in danger!"

"But, but, they're criminals," Katara protested. "They prey on travelers, you said so yourself. This is wrong. We have to stand up to them."

"WE don't have to do anything!" Toru spat back at her. "This is none of our concern. It has nothing to do with us! And I am going to make sure it stays that way. So you two need to get out of here. Not tomorrow, when you planned your little dust up, and not in an hour, but right now, before this goes any farther."

Mai had felt something was amiss about this town, but she was shocked to hear the extent of it. She glanced at Katara, but the other girl was staring at the floor, her face unreadable. Surprisingly, it was Jin who spoke next.

"Toru, don't do this, they're my customers!" she called through the window. Toru turned to her.

"Jin, you know how it works! We can't get in the way!"

"Toru, no! I'm trying to run a legitimate business here! It's hard enough when the gang drives off the customers, but now that I have people staying here, you're kicking them out? Are you joining the gang too?!"

"Jin! You hush, this instant!" a woman in the crowd called out, stepping forward to stand next to Toru. "You know Toru has to think of what's best for the village!"

"I won't let you!" Jin shouted, and she left her place at the window and came to the doorway, blocking it with her body. "I'm a legitimate businesswoman, and my customers have to know they're safe while they stay here!"

"No."

Mai started, and everyone looked at Katara. She was still looking down, but she stepped forward and put her hand on Jin's shoulder. Jin looked at Katara uncertainly.

"We don't want to be a bother," Katara continued in a subdued voice. "We won't cause any trouble. We'll leave."

Toru stared at her, trying to gauge her. "Thank you," the woman replied angrily.

Mai looked at Katara, but the other girl wouldn't look at her. "We'll get our stuff," was all she said, and turned to the back room. Toru started to protest, but decided to hold his peace. Mai looked at Jin who was looking back at her with a desperate expression on her face. Mai shrugged as casually as she could, and followed Katara to the back room. Katara was already coming back out with her gear.

"Katara," Mai whispered, but Katara ignored her. Mai sighed, and gathered up her stuff. They walked back to the front, past Jin, who just watched helplessly, and out the door, where a large portion, if not the entire village, was gathered. Mai was surprised they didn't have torches and pitchforks.

"Wait!"

They turned around as Jin followed them out. She was holding something in her hand. "Here, since you couldn't stay after all." She held out some money.

Mai stared at it. This must be the money Katara had paid for the night. She looked at Katara, but Katara didn't look back. "Keep it. I'm sorry about your business." Katara dead-panned.

Jin looked at Mai and held the money out to her. Mai shook her head. "Yeah, you better keep it. It'll just be more for the Changbai Gang to take."

Jin flinched as if she had been slapped. Toru scowled. But Mai didn't care. Thanks to this stupid town, not only was she not going to be able to rest, but she and Katara were going to be at the mercy of a gang of wannabe toughs (which in large enough numbers, were as much of a problem as actual bad guys). She turned and caught up to Katara, who had already began walking ahead.

The whole village watched them go.