Long Distance

"Well," Aang chirped, "if I'm going to the Eastern Air Temple, Appa and I can drop you at Chameleon Bay to see your dad."

Standing and looking down at his friends, Sokka's expression turned glum. "Someone has to stay here with the Earth King and help him plan for the invasion. I guess that's me."

His sister couldn't meet his gaze. "I'm sorry. I need to talk some things over with Dad, but I promise, we'll find a way for you to see him. Soon."

Sokka reached down, grabbed her arm, and lightly pulled Katara up to her feet beside him. "You manage that," he said, "and I'll officially declare you the nicest sister ever." He looked around the dark, opulent parlor, one of many scattered through out the Earth King's village-sized Forbidden Palace. "Who knows, maybe I'll find something to occupy me, here."


The morning dawned bright and clear outside the Earth King's palace, caressed by a gentle breeze. It was the first morning of the rest of their lives, a turning point in the struggle that had defined an entire era. It was the kind of morning that painters loved, partially because blue skies and a few fluffy clouds were the first thing that most painters learned to actually paint, but also because this morning boasted the presence of real heroes! Heroes brave and true, all, never mind that only one of them looked old enough to go on adult hunting trips. That just made their accomplishments all the more impressive, didn't it? And Sokka even had to shave, now, so there was no doubt about his maturity. (Never mind that Aang technically shaved, too; the top of his head didn't count.)

Yes, it was a true Heroes' Morn! "Isn't it perfect, Toph? All we need is a King to give a grand goodbye to you guys, and then I'm off to the base at the Inner Wall to plan out The Invasion. My The Invasion. This is, like, completely epic."

The Earthbender shrugged in Sokka's direction. "If you say so."

Sokka glanced over at her. "What, am I missing something? I mean, technically you're only journeying to your mom's house in the Upper Ring, but I've been waiting for your subplot to resolve itself for a while now. Trust me, the timing is perfect for a Heroes' Morn!"

Toph did that disconcerting thing where she stared in the wrong direction, smirked, and said, "Don't call my life a subplot, unless you want to be the comic relief sidekick. And you should probably be more concerned with Aang and Katara doing a little subplot-resolving behind your back right now. With their tongues."

Sokka turned around to where Appa was waiting. Last he saw them, Katara was killing time, petting Appa, while Aang was making his standard goo-goo eyes at her from a distance, and now- "Oh, ew!" Aang and Katara immediately broke their kiss, blushing, but Sokka shook his head at them. "I should have gone with my first impulse and picked on Aang before anything else. Listen, guys," he beseeched, "I understand that emotions are running high this morning, but please don't gross me out like this on my big day! I'm supposed to plan an Invasion later, and need my stomach not be all queasy."

Katara's face only got more crimson, but she stepped towards Sokka with her fists clenched. "Hey, I didn't say anything when you had us all waiting on the trail outside the city while you kissed Suki!"

"Suki and I are grown-up professionals!"

"What does that even mean!"

"Um, is this a good time to say goodbye?" the Earth King said as he walked over.

Sokka and Katara held each other's glare for one more moment, then relaxed and turned to smile at the monarch as one. "It's a great time," Katara said, her voice light.

The Earth King blinked once, then cleared his throat and stood up straighter. "Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Toph, I wish you good journey. Ba Sing Se owes you its thanks, and we look forward to your return." The group bowed together, and before Sokka could lift his head again to nip this whole Aang-and-Katara-going-on-a-kisser's-only-kissy-trip, a guard ran up behind the Earth King.

"Your Majesty! There are three female warriors here to see you, they're from the island of Kyoshi."

Well, speak of kissy-kissy vacations! Instead of rising out of his bow, Sokka somehow wound up sprawled on the ground. "That's Suki!"


Disguised as the Kyoshi Warriors, Azula (Dread Princess of Fire), Mai (Lady of Ten Thousand Hidden Knives), and Ty Lee (Just Ty Lee, Cutie) marched through the gate of the Forbidden Palace and succeeded in keeping evil smirks off their faces. For Mai, this wasn't a particularly hard task, since she didn't make much use of her face anyway, but the knife-thrower had to admit to being impressed that Ty Lee wasn't giggling like a loon over the deception. Azula was, of course, a much more controlled personality, but this was still just the kind of situation that would have prompted her to give a megalomaniacal laugh or two. Mai nominally supported the Fire Nation's whole Glorious March of Civilization thing and cared little for the so-called 'people' of the Earth Kingdom, but she still couldn't deny that Azula had a definite Evil vibe going.

Come to think of it, Mai probably came across as kind of Evil, too, what with the knives and her unique sense of fashion. The thought threatened to put a smile on her gaudily painted face.

The guards just beyond the gate all bowed to the three fake Kyoshi Warriors. "The Earth King offers shelter to your party," one said, "and will formerly greet you with the Honored Subjects' Welcome at the steps of the palace."

Azula nodded her head respectfully. Dressed as this awful costume, Mai didn't think it looked quite as regal as the Princess usually managed, but it wasn't bad. "We accept his hospitality with honor and gratitude," she said evenly.

Then the guard, a man with a horrifyingly thick mustache, rose and winked at the disguised Princess. "Just between you and me, the Earth King isn't the only one looking forward to seeing you. A young Water Tribe man named Sokka vouched for you girls, and was really excited to hear that 'Suki' was coming to visit."

Sokka? Sokka. That sounded familiar. Azula let a small, very fake smile grace her lips, and said, "Oh really? Where is he, now?"

The guard smiled back. "Only members of the Earth Kingdom are allowed to attend the Honored Subjects' Welcome, and he's meeting with the Council of Five after that, but he said to tell you that he's looking forward to catching up with you later outside the Palace."

Azula's hiss was soft enough that only Mai and Ty Lee could hear. "Dragon droppings." Mai resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow. Such language, from the Crown Princess! There might be hope for Azula, yet. Although, it was definitely trouble that there would be someone around who could see through their disguises. Who was this Sokka, that he knew the Kyoshi Kaptives so well?

At a signal from another set of guards, the three infiltrators began the short march to the Forbidden Palace. Azula kept her face still as she whispered just loud enough for Mai and Ty Lee to hear as they walked. "This is a wrinkle in our plan, but we can deal with this."

"We have a plan?" Mai whispered back, appalled. "I thought we were just making it all up as we went."

Ty Lee gave a small smile as she spoke in her own subdued voice. "It's okay, I can handle this. I'll keep Sokka out of our way for as long as you need. Um, Sokka is the cute guy in blue, right?"

Oh, that was his name! Mai was never particularly good with faces, but she had a fine memory for people who were fast and coordinated enough to bat her flying razor discs out of the air with a club. (Not that it was hard, with only one person currently in that exclusive club.)

Azula's eyes narrowed. "Normally, that wouldn't be a bad idea, Ty Lee. However, it hasn't escaped my notice that you've... drawn this Sokka's attention to yourself at various points during our encounters."

"It's okay," Mai said, "you can call it 'shameless flirting.' I do."

"Regardless, it's far too likely that this Sokka will recognize her, and we can't count on being able to dispose of a body within the palace. We'll need another way of distracting him from meeting with me. Or Ty Lee."

It took Mai a long moment to realize which one of their trio hadn't been mentioned in that statement, but before she could answer, Azula whispered, "Don't worry, Mai. When you're not holding a knife of some kind, you're completely unmemorable. You'll be fine. Just lure him away and deal with him."

Then they were at the palace, walking between lines of an honor guard, and a bespectacled man in a big hat began giving a speech. "In our hour of need, it is with the highest honor that I welcome our esteemed allies, the Kyoshi warriors!"


You didn't join the Dai Li if you didn't like watching people. That was the main thing. Sure, it sometimes involved lurking in shadows, suppressing important information, and making enemy spies and wreckers disappear, but mostly the day-to-day stuff consisted of watching people. Listening, too, occasionally, if the boss wanted to know what they knew.

Sometimes, though, Agent Zhuang listened just to keep from getting bored.

He had rotated to observational duty on the Avatar's group, but with most of them traveling out of the city, that just left him in charge of the goofy guy with the ponytail. (He had also been in charge of the Bei Fong girl, but she was suddenly taking an enforced vacation in a metal box, and word came down not to interfere.) Watching the Water Tribe guy was the height of uselessness, because he was just meeting with the Council of Five anyway, and all the Generals had Watchers of their own when inside the city proper.

At least, though, Ponytail Guy had a sense of humor. And his lemur was really cute.

"So I said to him, 'That's called Sokka Style- learn it!' And then Aang flew us out of there. The giant owl probably would have caught us, even then, but it looked to me like he was trying to fly with a concussion. I did clobber him with a pretty big book. I think it was called 'The Complete History of the Spear,' but I didn't get a chance to read it. Know if it's any good?"

Sitting next to Sokka on the train was General How, and he didn't look as amused as Agent Zhuang did with the Water Tribe guy's anecdotes. The general was probably still sore from when Sokka asked how he could be the Earth King's personal military advisor for years and never mention the War.

Yup, it was an amusing enough assignment. When Sokka's lemur turned to look right in Zhuang's direction, the Dai Li agent waved at it cheerfully from his hiding spot across the train car.


After the supposedly Earth Kingdomites-only Big Hello Ceremony, Azula and Ty Lee were given an audience with the Earth King himself, while Mai was dispatched on her special mission. She didn't know what excuse Azula made to get her out of the event, but at least she could rest assured that the Princess was too proper to make it something gross. Mai made her way back out of the palace complex, stopping when she spotted the guard with the brushy mustache from before. "Excuse me, sir, I'm supposed to deliver an important message to Sokka Water Tribe. Can you direct me to his meeting?"

"Oh, sure," the guard said, "he's supposed to be with the Council of Five at the Central Military Center."

Mai nodded. Central Military Center. More proof that the Earth Kingdom truly had no culture worth speaking of. "And where is the Center?"

"District 16 in the Lower Ring, right up against the wall. The neighborhood isn't the greatest, but once you get within the Center's walls you'll be fine."

"Wait, the Lower Ring?" Mai blinked. "I have to go all the way back there?"

The guard nodded. "They had to set up there in case The General of the Wall ever had to get back out to the Outer Wall in a hurry. Er, if you still have a train ticket dated today, they'll give you a discount when you buy the next one."


Agent Laotao of the Dai Li wasn't to sure about this assignment to spy on the Kyoshi Warriors. Sure, he had plenty of experience with observational duty; every Dai Li agent did. However, all of Laotao's previous assignments had been... well, of the male persuasion. At what point did it become a problem to keep watching a girl? Ten steps from the bathroom? Whenever she was in her room? Couldn't that be exploited to hide things from the Dai Li? And what about vantage points? If a female subject was wearing a certain kind of dress, watching her from high or low vantage points would be completely improper. There really should have been specific training on this subject.

It didn't help that Laotao was currently watching the Scary One. The other two Kyoshi Warriors were having an audience with the Earth King, and word was he would be asking them to serve as an Honor Guard during their stay in Ba Sing Se, so there was little need to spy on them. The Scary One, though, was taking the train across the city on some kind of assignment, and that mandated a Dai Li spy to make sure she wasn't up to the trouble.

Laotao just wished someone else had been picked for the duty. He also wished he had a custard tart. Those were good.

The Scary One was seated at the front end of this train car, away from other passengers, right next to the door that would lead outside to the connector to the next car. Laotao sat at the car's midway point on the opposite side, ignoring the uncomfortable shifting of the people on either side of him, and kept a surreptitious eye on his assignment.

Suddenly, without a word, she chose that moment to stretch her arms, stand up, drag the door open halfway, and step outside and out of view.

Laotao blinked. What in the name of the Primordial Clay was that about? Carefully, he stood up, letting himself get used to the slight shifting of the train as it moved, and walked over to the door. He peaked his head out cautiously.

A hand grabbed the neckline of his robe and hauled him fully outside. The door slammed shut behind him, and Laotao found himself face to face with the Scary One in the small space between train cars. "Spying on people isn't nice," she said in a low, smoky voice that lacked any emotion.

Laotao just stared at her. He had never been caught before! Did the Dai Li even have a Getting Caught contingency protocol?

When she didn't get a reply, the Scary One sighed and said, "I don't want to make a big deal out of this. I spotted plenty of your friends in the funny hats all over this city, so I guess this is just how things are done here. Whatever. But as long as you're going to follow me, could you do me a favor? I need the train's schedule to be canceled for the rest of the day. See, I have to distract the Water Tribe boy so that, um, his girlfriend gets a chance to unpack and see the city without him smothering her with his company. If he's stranded in the Lower Ring, that's mission accomplished. It would help you, too, because then you could keep spying on me without having to traipse back and forth across this ridiculously-sized city of yours. We both win. What do you say?"

Hm, if the Scary One was just going to be with the Avatar's friend at the Central Military Center, that place already had plenty of Dai Li observers. Laotao could knock off for a bit and pick up a custard tart. "I think I can accommodate you," he said.

The Scary One didn't smile, but she did nod and let go of his robe. It was all about the little victories.


"General Fong's base will serve as the launching point of the attack," General How said from his position across the Giantly Impressive Map from Sokka. Sokka didn't say anything, even though Fong was a creep who tried to kill both Aang and his sister, because he was very proper that way, whatever Toph said. "In exactly two months, the Army and Navy will invade the Fire Nation on The Day of Black Sun." The General punctuated his pronouncement by moving a trio of stone Earth Armed Forces markers across the detailed map to the Fire Nation islands.

Sokka nodded appreciably. That was very dramatically timed, the perfect way to end the planning meeting. Unfortunately, Momo chose that moment to hop off of Sokka's shoulders and tackle the markers the way Appa attacked baskets of apples. "Aw, come on, Momo! You're ruining the moment!" Sokka sighed. "Sorry about that, guys. He gets indulged too much by my friends. He's never learned how to behave. Momo, here!"

The lemur, of course, ignored him.

General How gave a sigh of his own, and snapped the markers upright again with a quick Earthbending gesture. Momo chose that moment to decide he was better off on Sokka's shoulders. Really, they should start expecting more of the lemur. Toph was pulling her weight more than Momo, and she had joined the group much later.

"Just," the general said wearily, "let's get the Earth King's seal on the plans so that we can start ordering the execution."

Sokka hopped out of his seat and raised his hand. "Ooh! I can do that! I'll take it to the palace for you! Please? I promise I'll be fast!"

How sighed again.


Mai had just reached the main door of the Central Military Center's (ugh) main building when the door popped open in front of her and a dark-skinned teenager in blue stepped up and crashed into her. Mai herself stumbled back a few steps, while the other participant in the collision bounced off her Kyoshi chest armor and stumbled to the floor. Just as she looked down and recognized the Sokka guy, something fuzzy, flying, and white started circling her head and screeching at her.

Eeaah! Mai tensed and began swatting frantically with one of her hands. The other hand was patting and probing at her own dress to find something sharp to throw at the mysterious parasite. Finally, she found something hard and metal, and whipped it out into a throwing position.

A gold war fan deployed her hand.

Oh.

Another hand settled onto the fan, and Mai found herself looking Sokka straight in his disconcerting blue eyes. "It's just Momo," he said quickly. "He'll calm down in a second."


Sokka used the moment of stillness to check out the Kyoshi Warrior's face, and was disappointed to realize that it wasn't Suki. Nevertheless, the girl agreeably brought her arm down and snapped her fan closed before tucking it back in her belt. With that situation resolved, Sokka dusted himself off, checked to make sure that the Invasion plans were still tucked into his own belt, checked again a little more frantically before he remembered that he had tucked the scroll on his left side and not his right, and finally turned a smile of greeting onto the Kyoshi Warrior.

Hm, she looked a little bit familiar, but he didn't recall seeing her hairstyle on any of the Warriors back on Kyoshi Island. Ah well, that had been a whole season ago. As Momo settled back onto his shoulders, he said, "So, what brings you out this way? I thought you girls were going to be at the palace all day."

The Kyoshi Warrior blinked, opened her mouth, but then closed it again. Did she forget what she was here for? Finally, she said, "Actually, I came to see you. I have a message from Suki."

A grin lit up Sokka's face. "Ooh, is she okay? Does she need something? Did she say anything about how tall I am?"

The Kyoshi Warrior blinked again. "No. Suki said that the Dai Li are up to something, and that I should warn you that they're spying on you and us for some reason. I shook my tail, but there's no telling how many are in on it. We have to be cautious."

The Dai Li again! Sokka knew those guys couldn't be trusted! Sure, they had thrown Long Feng in jail, but creepy is as creepy does, and those guys were definitely creepy! "Thanks for the warning. Come on, I have to get these plans to the Earth King. We'll have to make sure the Dai Li don't interfere!" Sokka grabbed the Kyoshi Warrior by her fan-hand and dragged her to the Central Military Center's gate.

Momo flew behind them.


Mai resisted the urge to sigh. Great. Sokka was a Touchy Type. And now he was on his way back to the palace even faster than before. Hopefully, that Dai Li agent who had been spying on her was keeping to their agreement, and hadn't figured out that Mai had basically intimidated him into doing what she wanted to no gain for himself.

As they passed through the Center's front gate, Mai finally yanked her hand out of Sokka's grip. "I can run on my own, you know," she said as she trotted to keep pace with him.

"Oh, sorry," he replied as he moved. "So, uh, what's your name? Sorry if we already met before, but I was really focused on apologizing to Suki and then wearing the dress without completely losing my masculine identity."

Gah. Far too much information. Mai's mind was so tangled up in desperately trying to not picture any possibilities suggested by that statement that she began talking without thinking. "My name is M... ai... uh, Mai." Dragon droppings. Had he ever heard her name before? Had Ty Lee mentioned it? Whatever Azula said, Mai liked to think that she had a rather distinctive face, and if Sokka knew her name, it was probably a very short hop to the memories of her throwing knives at his head.

Instead, Sokka glanced back at her with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Meimei. Welcome to Ba Sing Se, official worst city ever."


Sokka arrived at the closest train station, Meimei right behind him, to find a disturbingly large and noisy crowd clustered around the boarding ramp. "What's going on?"

A heavy-set woman nearby turned to him, revealing a very cross expression on her face. "The train is out! Something wrong with the whole thingy that connects the train to the tracks. Said they need to bring a team of Earthbender craftsmen from the Upper Ring to repair it!" The woman's expression became as tight as her hair bun. "That's gonna take all tonight and tomorrow to fix, and they're not even refunding our tickets! I can't afford this!"

Uh oh. Sokka nodded at the woman (keeping a pleasant forced grin on his face so that she didn't sense weakness and strike) and turned back to Meimei. Momo was perched on her hair, and she didn't seem to know what to do about it. Waving Momo away from her, Sokka said, "How much you want to bet that the Dai Li are behind this? Come on, we're not going to let this delay us." He reached for her hand again, but she moved it out of his reach with uncommon grace.

"We're not? How exactly do you expect to get to the palace now? It will take an entire day to get back to the Upper Ring! We should just head back to the Military Center and wait things out." She flinched as Momo flew around her again, but the lemur kept to the air for now.

Hm, Sokka would have thought a Kyoshi Warrior more used to animals than that. And more dedicated to a mission. But then, how could she be if she didn't know the stakes? Looking down, Sokka organized his thoughts and clamped down on his emotions. "Look, these plans need to get to the Earth King as soon as possible. They could end the entire war in just two months! And I've been entrusted with protecting them. I..." He stopped, and found himself sighing. "I haven't always done the best job of protecting the things I had to. But this time, I'm not going to let anything stop me. We just need to get through the Lower Ring, and then we can check in at the first of the walls and see about arranging transportation. Come on, we can do this. You and I are both Kyoshi-trained Warriors."

Sokka looked Meimei directly in the eyes. They were a striking dark shade. "What do you say?"


Mai was struck dumb by Sokka's little speech. End the war in two months? How? What didn't he protect before? Should she just stab him now? He trained with Kyoshi Warriors? Would the flying bat-creature attack her if she did something against his master?

So Mai made an executive decision. (Probably her first ever. It left her feeling a little giddy.) This Sokka was too much of an unknown to try to dominate here and now. She had to stick with him, learn what was going on, and wait for the proper opportunity to head him off without ruining her cover. "Okay," she said. "Lead the way."


The two Dai Li agents watched as their charges moved off into the Lower Ring's dense foot traffic together. "That liar," Laotao said. "She promised that they were going to stay at the Center."

Zhuang shook his head. "Kids these days. They don't know how to keep still."

"Now we have to chase after them."

"Eh, finish your custard tart. They don't know their way in the Lower Ring, so they'll be going slow for a little while. Then we'll catch up to them, and figure out what in the King's name they're up to."

Laotao nodded, and bit into his creamy dessert goodness. Without swallowing first, he said, "Pleasure to be working with you, Agent Zhuang."

"Likewise, Agent Laotao."

TO BE CONTINUED