Author's Note: Thanks to pivom9co for being a super beta!
Invasion
Chapter Four
Stupid, Lee was so stupid to talk to the soldiers. He practically ran to the kitchen as Jeng swooped in to control the damage. None of the eyes in the tea shop were on him anymore, but Lee still felt their stares, their judgment. His heart raced with the speed of a cheetah-deer as if it wanted to burst from his chest. And his stomach threatened to empty itself on the floor.
What was wrong with him? Dropping the tea cups –– he had all but admitted he was a firebender.
In the kitchen, Lee threw away the broken shards with trembling hands as Jia Ming watched with concern. She came over and put a comforting hand on his arm. For a wild moment Lee considered fleeing. It would be so easy. Out the back door, through the streets.
As if he didn't look suspicious enough already.
The warm, gentle weight of the old woman's hand held him in place as if it were an anchor. All thoughts of running sunk like a stone in Full Moon Bay. Lee took a deep breath, but the panic inside him remained.
"What happened?"Jia Ming tried to meet his eyes, but he stared at the floor. Oh Spirits, they were going to arrest him.
"The soldiers are looking for firebenders." Fear crept into Lee's voice. "They're taking firebenders." And they'll take me.
She heard the unspoken implication and frowned, deep creases forming in her aged face. Maybe she knew he was a bender. It didn't matter either way. He never told her and she never asked.
"Are you sure, Lee?"
Lee nodded helplessly to the floor. The old tea maker opened her mouth, prepared to say more, but was interrupted by Jeng's shout from the main room.
"LEE!"
The sound echoed all the way from the front of the building.
"Go." Jia Ming urged in a soothing voice, far too calm. "You have nothing to worry about, the red soldiers make everyone nervous. It's not as bad as it sounds. Jeng won't let them touch you."
Lee doubted that very much.
Selling Lee to the Fire Nation sounded exactly like the type of thing the owner would do to save his own skin.
Lee wanted to stay in the kitchen with the familiar smell of spices and warmth of the ovens instead of going out there to face the soldiers. But Jia Ming nudged him forward and his feet carried him out of habit.
He stepped out of the kitchen into the main body of the tea shop expecting to be arrested. Sweat rolled down his back. All of a sudden the room felt entirely too warm and Lee adjusted his robe nervously.
Nothing happened.
Mildly surprised, Lee saw Jeng standing beside the Fire Nation soldiers, who were still seated sipping their tea.
A few customers slipped out after the red soldiers sat down for their drinks, judging from several empty tables. Others stayed, feeling relatively safe and curious enough to remain, even if their voices lowered and conversations turned toward neutral topics like the weather.
Now all their eyes were on him.
"Lee!" Jeng roared again, catching sight of his employee.
Jia Ming was a liar because that voice sounded like Lee had a lot to worry about. Given the chance, Jeng preferred to get his server's attention quietly whenever possible, snapping, gesturing, or making eye contact. Yelling tended to annoy customers.
But the owner didn't care about his customers right now.
He sounded angry. Livid.
"Did you break my teacups?"
Caught off guard, Lee stared at his boss in confusion. Why did that matter? Here he was, about to be arrested and Jeng wanted to start the interrogation by yelling at him about broken ceramic.
"Did you? Answer me!" Jeng shouted, approaching Lee. Green robes billowed as the man drew himself to his full height, though he wasn't much taller than the teenager.
Lee hesitated, eyes darting between the soldiers and Jeng. "Yes."
"That's the third time this week, you useless boy! Get out, you're done for the day. I don't need you destroying my shop."
Heat rose to his good cheek, humiliated at the accusation. He reacted before he could stop. "What?"
In the past three years Lee knew he only broke one thing, a previously cracked kettle. And Jia Ming gladly threw it out. What was Jeng talking about, accusing him of being bad at his job. Lee took a lot of pride in what he did. It may not be important, but he did what Jeng wanted every single day and he did it well.
"You heard me. Get out. I don't need a tea server who costs me more than he makes. You can't do your job so get out."
Confusion morphed into anger. Lee's mouth opened to protest, only to close again, dry and unable to find the right words. He'd spent three years of his life working at the damn tea shop getting burned by boiling water, cleaning, serving, memorizing orders and names of customers. And only to get fired now … for breaking a teacup?
Right as Lee was about to say what he really thought about Jeng and his stupid tea shop when the man stepped forward, leaving only a single pace between them.
"Go home, Lee." He whispered voice devoid of actual anger and low enough for only Lee's ears to hear. "Come back tomorrow morning."
Lee's anger evaporated. What was happening?
"This is your last warning, kid, before I ask these fine soldiers to escort you out."
Jeng wanted him to be angry, pushing all his buttons. Fine. Lee reached behind his back, untying his apron in one swift movement from years of experience. Lee ripped off the apron and threw it to the floor at his feet before stomping out of the tea shop, every step acting like the defiant youth everyone expected from him.
"Teenager," Jeng mumbled to the soldiers and the rest of the patrons.
Lee kept walking head down in silent rage, barely noticing where he went. Each step took him further away from the tea house, Jeng, and the soldiers. Lee's breath caught in his throat as he stopped suddenly, halting in the middle of the street so abruptly that someone nearly ran into him. The soldiers… it dawned on him like the faint ray of sun shining over the outer wall on a clear, cloudless spring morning. The soldiers were back at the tea house and he was here ––safely out of their reach –– several blocks over.
And yet for another time that day Lee found himself confused. Did … did Jeng just protect him? No. The teashop owner wasn't that selfless. There had a be an alternate reason. Maybe the man, fed up with his failing business, actually fired him in a moment of rage. That felt more likely.
Either way, tomorrow when Lee went back, he would find out. Jeng owed him half a day's pay. Lee earned that money and he'd be damned it the stingy owner refused to pay due to the broken cups.
It was far too early in the afternoon to go home. More importantly, Lee didn't want to explain the mess to his mom. Getting fired paled in comparison to learning Fire Nation soldiers were searching for firebenders, but he didn't want to tell her about either.
Lee walked around the city for a while going wherever his legs carried him. A fair number of people, like himself, were out and about. Unless he was running an errand for the teashop, he usually stayed inside all day until it closed in the evening. The people on streets in the day looked far more relaxed than the people he was used to seeing rushing home before the curfew at sunset.
He walked passed some barefoot kids playing an earthbending game, running and weaving through the street with wild abandon. A smile tugged at Lee's lips when he remembered doing the same –– not for long, he and Mom need the income more. An old man shouted a string of curses at them for getting in his way, but the kids laughed and kept running. Part of Lee wished he could go back to those days, but he didn't dwell long on the nostalgia.
Lee found a ledge on a short wall that blocked off the back alley from the street. He climbed up it easily and sat, watching everyone pass by. Soldiers, civilians, children, and the elderly. Just all carrying on as if they weren't any more poor or hungry under the Fire Nation rule than under the Earth Kingdom.
From his seat he saw a frustrated man trying to shop from what little supplies remained in their part of the city. There wasn't a lot.
"These prices are outrageous!" He gestured harshly at the grain stall he stood in front of offering bags of rice of wheat. "Last week you wanted 12 copper pieces per pound and now –– now it's 20! That's theft!"
"Look," the vendor said equally agitated, "it is what it is. I got a family to feed too. When the soldiers open the Fourth Quarter again we'll get more and the price will drop. Until then we're all clenching our wallets. You want some or not?"
The man grumbled under his breath before giving in. "I'll take half a pound."
Lee's head spun at the idea of paying 20 copper pieces for a basic good like rice. Before the invasion a pound of rice cost as little as 5 coins. Now it sold for 20! He didn't even want to know the price of sugar, meat, or any other luxuries now.
Hearing those numbers hurt.
Just this week Lee and his mother used the last of their savings to pay rent. He pinched the bridge of his nose wondering what would happen now. Where would the money come from next month if he didn't have a job?
He sat on the wall, gently kicking his heels against the beige stones, wasting time as he wondered where he could work next. Reading and writing were always valued skills if he could find somewhere that needed to take inventory or correspondence. On top of that he had a quick mind. Though lithe and not particularly strong he could do some type of physical labor if it meant getting paid.
For the first time in a long time, he had, well, time. Lee turned behind to look into the closed alley behind him so see it was filled with the usual boxes and crates, broken objects thrown out into the street, but never really completely thrown out. Bored, Lee turned himself around and hoped onto the other side. He landed more or less gracefully, one hand on the ground to steady himself as his long legs folded to absorb the impact.
It had been a long time since he did anything so physical.
Lee tiptoed through the alley though no one was there to hear him. Still, he moved as stealthily as possible. Every creak and groan of wood and the soft tap of his shoe echoed loudly in the silence.
Nothing came of it, though if Lee were honest, he didn't know what adventure he expected to find. Hidden treasure among the trash? A shrill voice yelling at him to get out?
The alley ended sooner than he hoped, opening to another street, same as the last. Disappointed, wondered around for another two hours before returning home.
A common joke in the Lower Ring said that the only thick walls in the city were created by earthbenders. All other walls were notoriously thin to the point of knowing the neighbor's business whether you wanted to or not. Lee's apartment building was no exception. Old, but not as old as the shoddy construction implied, the wooden building left much to be desired when it came to space and privacy.
The stairs groaned under each step as he walked up to the top floor and if he bothered to listen he could tell who was home. He stopped in the hallway in front of his door, hearing a soft spoken conversation inside, though he couldn't make out the words.
He knocked at the door, speaking louder so his mom could hear him clearly through the wood "Mom, it's me."
The his mother's voice stopped and the floorboards inside creaked faintly as she walked toward the door. After the familiar snap of the metal lock, she opened it and let him inside, only to lock the door behind him again.
"You're early," she murmured. Concern showed in her copper colored eyes. "Is everything alright."
No, not at all, but Lee couldn't tell her while she had company. He glanced over to the table to see their downstairs neighbor Mrs. Hong sitting beside two empty bowls, new additions to his mother's growing collection.
The woman, about Mom's age, wore a green robe and always listened with a sympathetic ear. The two met regularly when their lives allowed. She didn't have any children (which disappointed Lee when he was younger) and lived in their building since he and his mother moved in.
"I'll tell you later."
He bowed politely to Mrs. Hong before excusing himself to lay down. With practice, Lee tuned out the women's voices in the small apartment and fell asleep. By the time he opened his eyes again the room grew dark. A single candle as his mom sat by herself reading a battered scroll under the dim light.
He blinked once, than twice and wondered where the time went.
"Are you feeling alright? You slept for a long time."
Lee nodded even though he remembered the disaster that was his day. He would tell her about it, but just not right now.
"What's that one?" Lee asked out of curiosity pointing toward her scroll. The candle burned beside her, a gently guiding light. Lee felt the fire inside him pull to it, but pushed the urge away.
She read a lot, far more than most people in the Lower Ring, especially in the Fourth Quarter. Despite the university in the Middle Ring, much of the poorer population, farmers and tradesmen, never learned how read. But Lee figured most refugees didn't have time to learn when fleeing for their lives.
He's lucky that she taught him how to read. Back when he sat inside at the table in front of endless scrolls, learning how to hold slices of charcoal to write with because ink was too expensive, he rather have been playing outside. Even inside. Now he's grateful she took the time to teach him.
"History, well, a fictional history of the 15th Earth King and his bride. It's fairly dull to be honest."
Of course it was. All the texts he read about the monarchy portrayed the rulers as perfect, flawless beings doomed to suffer in an imperfect world. From the 10th Earth King to the 50th, all records of them sounded the same. "Why? You don't even like the royal family."
"Hush," she scolded him mildly. "Don't let others hear you say that. We're still loyal to the Earth King, no matter what's happening in the city."
Yet the statement fell flat and the sincerity of them never quite reached her eyes.
Throughout his childhood 'loyalty' was thrown around often, repeated by rote. Everyone said it. In fact, Lee thought the residents in the Fourth Quarter said it a little too often before the invasion as if to reassure they earned the safety behind the walls. 'We are loyal.' But Mom repeated it the same way she stated, 'There are no firebenders in Ba Sing Se.' As if saying the phrases enough made them true.
It didn't.
"I respect the royal family (and you should too, went unstated), but they are just people. History tends to look favorably upon them even when it shouldn't. If I remember correctly, the Earth Kingdom at this time was broken into three kingdoms. This story doesn't acknowledge that. It writes the story it wants others to read and ignores the rest.
The royal family protects us; they govern, unite, and provide for everyone in the capitol. Even though they are given the resources to become great leaders, they are people who get angry, confused, and make mistakes, everyone else.
The royal family should be respected as leaders and decision makers. However, blindly following their rule puts everyone in danger."
Lee quirked his remaining eyebrow in fained curiosity. "Thought about the royal family a lot, have you?"
"More than is healthy," his mother replied dryly before changing the subject. "Why were you back so early today?
Lee remembered the disastrous afternoon serving the soldiers at the tea shop. He didn't want to tell her what happened, how he almost gave himself away and hurt her by making them suspicious. She wanted to be left alone and he nearly brought the Fire Nation soldiers to their doorstep.
He didn't need to tell her everything, not yet. Not until he went back tomorrow morning.
"I found out what the Fire Nation soldiers are looking for."
Mom put her scroll down. Someone had probably traded it in exchange for one of her herbal remedies. When times were tight an exchange of goods was nearly as useful as money. She always read Earth Kingdom histories no matter how boring because she was loyal. Lee, young nodded understanding that he and his mom always needed to prove themselves Earth because they were different, because fire burned within and called more loudly than earth.
"They are looking for firebenders in the city."
"Good thing you are not a firebender," she said evenly.
"Mom –" he started. He didn't want to hear it again. He knew what she was going to tell him.
She cut him off. "NO. I know its hard."
"NO you don't! You're not a bender!" Lee shouted into the dark, quiet room. She had no idea what it felt like to be called to fire and to feel the flames in his soul. His mom only felt heat. She didn't have to hide it, pretend it didn't exist, like it wasn't part of her.
Silence echoed loudly off the thin wooden walls, even louder than his voice a moment before.
"I'm not a bender – you're right -. But I know what it's like to go into hiding and pretend everyday to be something I'm not. It's a lie. It's hard, and it hurts. But we are safe, Lee. It's either lie or be killed. Our lies protect us."
"I'm tired of lying." Lee said, even quieter. Not an apology, but close enough.
"Me too."
"What do they want firebenders for? Why are they arresting them? Shouldn't they want as many firebenders as possible?"
His mother hummed in thought. "They do, just not here. There is no use for firebenders in Ba Sing Se, not unless they conquer or maintain control of the city. They want firebenders to fight for them in the war."
"But they won't! No one forced to fight is going to fight for the people that kidnapped them."
"Not all become soldiers," Mom supplied." The Fire Nation needs firebenders to heat their boilers and factories. There are lots of uses for firebenders, just few in Earth Kingdom capital. "They aren't being arrested, they're probably being transported out of the city."
He didn't understand how she could say it so casually as if contemplating the weather instead of the fate of innocent people.
"But these people, they won't cooperate, they can't betray the Earth Kingdom."
She sighed sadly.
"Then they will be used to make a new generation of firebenders. The Fire Nation will do anything to raise its numbers."
Old enough to understand, Lee shuddered at the implication. His mother grew quiet as well. She seemed to be done speaking and sat lost in thought, her reading forgotten.
Had that happened to her? Was Lee supposed to be just another bender in their army? She never spoke about his father and dismissed any of Lee's questions. All Lee knew about the man was that 'he is not a good person.' But after all these years she never said anything more.
It couldn't be true. It wasn't for all he knew. His brain just jumped to conclusions. Awful, sickening conclusions that made his head too light and his gut queasy with heaviness.
Done for the evening, Mom blew out her candle and went to bed soon afterward.
Lee couldn't sleep. His body and mind were too restless with the days events.
Once again he rolled over, cupped a flame in his palms out of sight from Mom and the rest of the city. Their building could be searched at any moment. Tonight. Tomorrow –– the thought terrified him. He imagined a black clad soldier wearing a haunting bone mask and copper eyes marching through the apartment building, kicking down door, and dragging him outside to join their army.
All because he was a firebender.
No matter how much Mom wanted, he couldn't just stop being a bender. Sure, during the day he hid himself. He portrayed himself as a nonbender to the rest of the world. But at night he needed this moment right here with his flame to make the rest of the day bearable. The heat on his skin tingled with warmth, but not enough to hurt or burn.
The memory of the soldiers in the tea shop danced across his mind. They said firebenders didn't get burned. Firebenders don't carry burn scars. So what happened to him? Mom said he was three years old when his face burned –– too young to bend, much less defend himself –– when a soldier from the red army tried to kill him.
Why attack a child?
His mind drifted without finding a real answer until he extinguished his flame was lulled to sleep by the familiarity of the city at night. Several cat-owls sang broken choruses across the Fourth Quarter. Cool air from the open window dulled the Fourth Quarter's perpetual stink of garbage and sweaty bodies, but a new scent mixed between them. As he fell asleep, Lee's foggy mind recognized the newest smell hovering over the city, the soft steady scent of smoke.