The Yecai Society
. helium lost .

Author's Notes: After a long, long wait (eek—almost six months?!), I'm finally updating this thing. XD Admittedly, I am very bad with multi-chaptered fics; I never manage to finish any of them… but this one deserves a chance! Really!

Anyway, this probably won't stay very true to the canon timeline, but you guys don't mind, right :)


Chapter Two
Chance Encounter; Haggling; Abducted!


The Ba Sing Se marketplace was rife with its day-to-day sounds: Merchants were calling out from every corner, advertising their items and prices ("Real bison-fur bags! They're not rabbit fur, promise! A mere fifteen gold pieces each!" "In need of a good vase? Carefully hand-crafted vases here! Starting from five silver pieces!"), the click-clack of carriages being drawn on the cobblestones, the odd cross between a caw and a neigh of the ostrich-horses tethered to poles jutting out of the ground… The sky was blue; the sun was shining bright; there were virtually no clouds in the sky; and Katara was desolate.

Katara sighed as she shook out the contents of her money bag. "I'm afraid we don't have much—just a few bronze coins… We might have to go hungry tonight; there's not enough time to find a quick-paying job." She frowned. "Maybe we can find a kind merchant who'll let us haggle—every coin counts now."

Sokka ran a hand through his hair. "Don't tell me we're going to have to eat vegetables again?"

Katara winced. "Looks like it—it's not like you can go hunting here, as the only animals here are in the zoo, and meat is ridiculously expensive… plus, the animals in the forest are either too fierce to hunt or too small to provide anything substantial… so I guess it's fruits and vegetables again."

Aang shrugged. "I don't mind—maybe I could whip up a fruit pie for us all. I used to have those all the time, and they were really good."

Toph rolled her eyes. "And where do you expect to get the flour? The eggs? The oven? Those things don't exactly come by cheap, you know."

Katara sighed and slipped the coins back into the bag. "C'mon guys, let's not argue now. It's okay—we'll be fine." She glanced around, then spotted a cluster of bright colors further along the road. "Looks like the fruits and vegetables section is over there—let's go take a look and see what we can find. Sound good?"

The others nodded and made their way through the crowd with Katara, pushing past people clustering at stands, waving around moneybags and yelling, offering prices half or a third of the original price. The streets were thick with the feeling of fabric clinging to fabric and with various smells that mingled together and threatened to choke them—the smell of matted ostrich-horse feathers, the smell of hair that hadn't been washed in days, the smell of fish being fried in the distance, the smell of fire and dirt.

As they continued to push through the crowd, Katara felt something slide across the lower region of her body and froze. Had someone just touched her butt? Of course, her mother had always told her about big cities and told her to be careful, but she'd never thought—She whirled around and prepared to waterbend a whip at whoever it was, but Sokka had beaten her to it, picking up the scraggly-looking guy by the collar and whipping out his boomerang.

"Hey, what do you think you're up to, eh? What do you think you're doing?" he hissed, waving his boomerang in the guy's face. Katara had to admit that she did feel a twinge of pity for the guy—he was ashen-faced and looked as if he were about to cry, struggling in Sokka's grip. "That's my sister there, and if anyone dares to lay a finger on her, they'll have to face my wrath. Now I want you to apologize and swear that you'll never do that again—to my sister, or, for that matter, anyone else's—or else…" He pressed the edge of his boomerang to the guy's throat. "…there will be serious consequences."

"I—I'm sorry!" he sputtered. "I was just—well, I haven't eaten in days, and I was just trying to—'borrow' some coins! Honest! I didn't mean anything from it!"

Sokka rolled his eyes and let the guy fall to the ground. "As if stealing is any better—you disgust me. Go off and bother someone else, will you?"

The guy nodded and ran off into the crowd, disappearing into the hustle and bustle. Sokka sheathed his boomerang and ran a hand through his hair. "People these days," he muttered. "No sense of decency."

Katara sighed. "Sokka, don't you think that was a bit much? That guy looked scared out of his wits."

Sokka smirked. "I know."

Katara rolled her eyes. "C'mon, guys." She slipped a hand into her pocket. "The money bag's still here; he didn't manage to take it—thank goodness. We're almost there."

They pushed their way out of the throng and into another flowing current running through the fruit and vegetable vendors. Katara frowned as she looked around—harvests didn't seem to be very good; the fruits were small at best, and most of the vegetables looked slightly withered. It probably didn't help that today was a fairly hot day—and all this produce sitting out in the sun… She sighed. Well, it would have to do—it was probably better to eat food that was a tiny bit spoiled than nothing at all.

"Anything you guys want?" she asked.

Toph shrugged. "Whatever you pick is fine with me. Just not durians—I hate durians."

Katara furrowed her brow. "Durians? What are those?"

"Oh, just those fruits that you can smell from about a mile away. I don't really smell any, so I guess that's good. They used to have them all the time where I lived—I never understood what was so good about them, anyway. They smelled like week-old vomit."

Katara raised her eyebrows. "Durians, eh… I'll keep in mind to stay away from them." She turned to Aang and Sokka. "And you guys?"

Aang shrugged. "I don't really care either way."

Sokka frowned and crossed his arms. "A fruit made of meat would be nice."

Katara stuck out her tongue and winced. "Sokka, that's disgusting!" She turned around to glance at the carts again. "Well, there's a cart over there selling apricots; we should probably get some…"

She walked over to the cart and examined the fruit. A few of them were mushy and soft and didn't look too appetizing… She frowned, then picked one up that didn't look half bad. She pointed to it and looked at the vendor.

"How much?"

"One bronze coin each," she replied. Katara recoiled.

"One bronze coin each?" she said incredulously. "That's a bit much, isn't it? I wouldn't pay unless you sold six for one coin. They've been sitting out in the sun all day and you expect one bronze coin for each of them? That's ridiculous!"

The merchant shook her head. "All right, I'll give you a deal: One coin for two. Trust me, you won't find a better price anywhere. There's a guy down there with trying to sell each one of them for five bronze coins!"

Katara raised an eyebrow. "That's just insane. But I'm not paying unless I'm getting at least five for each bronze coin."

The merchant shook her head again, this time more vigorously. "No. Apricots are very hard to grow, you know, and it's very good for your health. It's a very good deal, you know. You won't find a better price anywhere, I guarantee it."

Katara frowned again and looked at the apricot, squeezing it gently between her fingers. Come to think of it, this one was fairly mushy, too. It wasn't that she didn't like mushy fruit—but these were a bit too mushy for her tastes. "Hmm… Come to think of it, I don't like apricots very much anyway. Thanks, but no thanks—I'm going to look at the other carts." She placed the fruit down and began to walk away.

The merchant sighed, grit her teeth, closed her eyes, then called out after her, "All right, I'll give you four for one bronze coin. But you're killing me! I'm going to starve with prices like that!"

Katara zipped back to the cart with a sly smile on her face—walking away always worked. "Great!" She shook a single bronze coin out onto her palm and gave it to the merchant, who handed her a bag containing four apricots in it. The merchant had a pained look on her face, but Katara was smiling widely as she inspected the four apricots, satisfied to see that they weren't the mushiest of the lot. "Thanks!"

Katara closed the bag and rushed back to Toph, Aang, and Sokka. "All right, I got us some apricots—not much, but it was still a pretty good price. We still have some money left over—I'm going to see if we can get anything else. Those apples over there look pretty good, come to think of it…"

She shoved the bag into Sokka's hands and warned him not to squash the apricots, then dashed over to the apple cart as Sokka, Aang, and Toph watched, amused.

Katara looked at the mounds of apples and noticed that they were all fairly small. She frowned and sniffed one. Well, at least it smelled good, and it looked fairly appetizing… She looked up and noticed the merchant watching her with a strange, sly smirk on her face.

"Can I help you, miss?" she said, then grinned. Katara raised an eyebrow, finding herself slightly unnerved by this merchant's strange behavior.

"Er—yeah. How much?"

The merchant rubbed her chin, then said, "I'll give you two for one bronze coin."

Katara sighed. "What is it with you merchants and ridiculously high prices these days? These apples are so tiny! I'm not paying unless I get at least eight for one bronze coin. I can eat these in one bite!"

The merchant laughed. "Then I'd suggest you take smaller bites, girl, because I'm not going to sell them for any more than three for one bronze coin. There—I lowered the price a little for you."

Katara sighed. "What about six for one coin? I think that's very fair."

The merchant shook her head, then widened her smirk, sending a chill up Katara's spine—there was just something about this woman that she didn't quite like. "Oh, you silly girl. Don't you know that these are the best apples in all of Ba Sing Se? They're grown in the finest orchards in the top ring, where all the rich aristocrats stay! Those silly aristocrats plant apple trees all over but only eat one or two apples from their orchards. Three for one coin is a very good price! You'll get a taste of royalty with every bite, I assure you." She grinned. "Just don't take bites that are too big—you might choke."

Katara shuddered. Something about the way she said 'choke' simply unnerved her. "Four for one. Or else I'm not buying at all."

The merchant sighed and tilted her head to the side. "All right, all right, you win. Four for one—though I must tell you that my children are going to starve because of you. How many do you want?"

Katara sighed and looked at the tiny apples. "I'll buy eight."

The merchant tossed eight apples into a bag, then held it out to Katara, who shook out the last two bronze coins from her bag and dropped them into the merchant's outstretched hands. She took the bag and sighed.

"Thank you for your business," the merchant said cheerfully, "and enjoy those apples—they might be your last."

Katara raised an eyebrow. Her last?

"Because the apple season is almost over," the merchant said hastily, and Katara nodded, giving her a weird look.

"Err—thanks." She turned and returned to the other three, who were gawking at the stand of strange, hybrid fruits.

"It's a cross between a strawberry and an orange! Here, take a sample—it's free!"

Sokka took the toothpick with the fruit speared on the end and inspected it. It, admittedly, did smell like a strawberry, even though it looked like an orange… He took a tentative bite, swallowed, then rolled his eyes.

"These aren't hybrids!" he said, brandishing the toothpick at the merchant. "This is just a slice of orange dipped in strawberry juice! What a cheapskate."

The merchant glared at him. "Lies. These are fruits developed with the latest technology by the scientists and scholars of Ba Sing Se university. With this new hybrid technology, they can create totally new fruits by mixing ones we already know about. Do you like the taste of oranges? And also the taste of strawberries? Well, with hybrid technology, you can have both in one! Astounding, isn't it! You, commoner, are simply too simple-minded to understand the complicated ways of new technology. A slice of orange dipped in strawberry juice! Very funny, mister, very funny."

Aang's eyes widened. "Wow! So I can have a grape that tastes like a lemon?"

The merchant nodded his head and laughed. "Of course! A gremon, maybe? Or maybe a lemape? Who knows? The possibilities are endless! But for a mere five gold coins, I can create a hybrid fruit just for you, available in just a couple days! Yes, these hybrid fruits grow amazingly fast, I'm pleased to say!"

Sokka rolled his eyes and pulled Aang away; Toph followed close behind. "Frauds, the lot of them. Let's go."

"You're missing out on a great scientific discovery!" the merchant called out from behind them. "This technology is priceless! Yet I'm letting you experience it for so cheap! You're missing out!"

"Well," said Katara as they were walking away, "I managed to get us eight apples, too. So we have eight apples and four apricots—works out nicely to two apples and one apricot for each of us. Okay, it's not much… but we're leaving Ba Sing Se tonight, and there should be something we can get in the forests around here… there has to be."


Darkness settled across Ba Sing Se, cloaking it in a hazy black punctured only by the glittering of the night stars. The once-busy marketplace was now almost chillingly empty, with only some squashed produce staining the cobblestone ground and some empty carts and boxes littering the street. A quiet wind blew as a small group of cats darted across the street, led only by the light of the moon.

One by one, the lights in the windows of each house began to extinguish, leaving the city even darker than before.

But the lights in one of the houses were still on—albeit dimmed to produce an eerie, cinematic effect. Six people were once again gathered around the same table.

"Status report," said Cabbage, fingers laced together under his chin. He glanced around the room—the members seemed to be in a better mood now from yesterday. Seemed like the play was in good shape—good.

Asparagus laid an object on the table, and the others peered through the gloom to look at it. It was a curious object—they hadn't really seen anything like it in Ba Sing Se.

But, of course, not many waterbenders are in Ba Sing Se, either…

"The girl's water pouch," Asparagus said proudly. "Luckily, she seemed to be too preoccupied with the thought of buying food to pause to check that her pouch was still there… and her brother!" He shuddered. "That boy is insane… I was real scared, I'll tell you, when he picked me up by the collar. But he didn't notice that I had the water pouch, I guess; he was too focused on the possibility of me trying to molest her or something to that effect."

Cabbage nodded. "Good, good. And Apricot? Apple?"

The two of them nodded.

"I sold her four apricots, each with some of the sleeping medicine in it. That should knock them out for maybe two hours or so."

"And I sold them eight apples, so if each of them eats two, they should be knocked out for another four, maybe five hours."

Cabbage nodded again. "All right, Rhubarb is tailing them now and making sure that they don't eat before they settle down to sleep for the night… not sure how he's doing it, but he said something about creating diversions. I don't know—Hopefully he'll manage to lead them away from any source of water, too, just in case the girl wakes up early. She may have already noticed that her pouch is gone—hopefully, she hasn't. As for what to do when we actually capture the girl…"

Apple cleared her throat, and Cabbage nodded to her, letting her speak.

"Well, I managed to secure a cage from the zoo. Apparently, they had some cages left over that they planned on trashing anyway, saying that they were too weak to hold the animals in… So I got a few. They fit inside one another nicely, and we can keep her in the inner one. They may be weak for animals, but they're far too strong for humans to break—even if that other girl tries to pummel it with earthbending. She'll be locked in there, and we won't let her out until the Avatar agrees to come with us." She smirked. "Simple."

Cabbage nodded approvingly. "Good." He stood, then hit the table with his palm. "Meeting adjourned. Next meeting: Tomorrow night, same place, same time." He smirked maliciously. "I'm expecting to hear good news from all of you."

With that, the other five members strode toward the door, and Cabbage blew out the candles, plunging the room into a pitch-black darkness.


Katara yawned and stretched. The night was still early and the campfire was still blazing fairly strongly, but, for some reason, she just felt utterly tired.

"I guess we'll just stay here for the night, yeah?" she said, and yawned again. Toph and Aang nodded, bleary-eyed, as Sokka polished his boomerang. "We've had a long day and we've traveled a lot—unfortunately there's no water around here, but those fruits were surprisingly juicy… Are you sure you don't want one, Sokka? There's still some leftover. They're really good!"

Sokka shook his head as he inspected his boomerang. "No thanks—I hate apricots and apples. I had a bite of each of them and they were disgusting. Tasted funny."

Katara shrugged. "Suit yourself." She yawned again. "Well, I'm going to go to sleep, then—looks like Toph and Aang are, too. Don't stay up too late, Sokka—we have another long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay. Good night."

"Good night!"

Katara lay down on the sleeping mat, and Aang and Toph followed suit. Within minutes, the three of them had fallen into a deep sleep, their breathing deep and steady. Sokka sighed and sheathed his boomerang, then stared into the fire. The night was peaceful—all he could hear was the crackling of the fire and the sleeping trio's breathing. The rest of the forest was fairly quiet, punctuated only by the occasional cracking of a twig or creaking of a tree branch.

Sokka sighed again and rolled out his sleeping mat. It was rather boring to just sit here, doing nothing—he might as well sleep and get ready for tomorrow. He put out the campfire, then lay down and closed his eyes, letting himself drift into an uneasy sleep. There was just something nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite place it…

Moments after Sokka drifted into sleep, a shadowy figure crept into the clearing. He stole a few furtive glances around, then carefully lifted Katara and eased her out of her sleeping bag; she hung completely limp in his arms. He took a few more furtive glances around, then crept off almost soundlessly through the forest again. Katara groaned and he froze, then continued as she merely tilted her head to the other side. He let out a sigh of relief, then caught his foot on a protruding branch and cursed, then froze again. He heard Sokka move, then move again, and quickly ran off with Katara in his arms.

Back at the clearing, Sokka sat up and rubbed his eyes. He could've sworn he heard something weird… He looked around, first at the smoldering embers that were the last of the campfire, at Aang's sleeping figure, at Toph's sleeping figure, at—

Sokka froze.

"Katara?"

He looked around as a mounting feeling of fear began to tie up the pit of his stomach. There was nowhere to go from this clearing—no river, no lake; all that surrounded them was trees… He bit his lip.

"Katara!"


Author's Notes: Ohhh, a cliffhanger! ;D Well, I hope I didn't disappoint; I wrote this pretty much in one sitting… Anyway, things are going to get much, much wilder from here on out… you just wait and see. :P

As always, leave me feedback! I'd love to hear what you think.

2/4/2007