Creation began on 12-31-09
Creation ended on 01-15-10
Avatar: The Last Airbender
The Princess and the Ba Sing Se Tale
A/N: We become intertwined with others the more we hang with them.
It had been a week since their failed attempt to see the King, as well as learning of Ba Sing Se's conspiracy and strict rules. It was as though the people that made it their job of protecting the city made order a high priority and set limitations on the freedom that everyone had a right to. But as much as Yue and the others hated these rules, they had to abide by them if they wanted to find Appa, even if that meant that people weren't going to speak up about his whereabouts. The sooner that they found him, the better, and they'd be able to leave this place, which wasn't as peaceful as the last few good places they had been to.
As Yue, like Katara, was setting in place her hair loopies, she was as set as she would be for her day outside on the streets of the city. Everyone would be spending the day doing something that they would probably enjoy, but the question for her was, "What was out there for her to enjoy?" Only being here a week, she barely had any time to reflect on what she had liked here, although she did once admit that the crab puffs she tried back at the palace were delectable. But she couldn't subject herself to simply liking the cuisine here. With the life Tui had given her years ago as a newborn now her own to live without any fear, she wanted to do many things that she couldn't do back home.
"Hey, where's Toph?" Sokka asked, using his machete to cut away the mustache hairs on his face.
"She's still sleeping in," Yue answered him.
"I'll get her," went Katara, since Aang was still shaving his head with his Air Nomad shaving tool.
Yue decided to go with her, even though she'd already been aware of Toph's lack of hygienic habits, going into her room and seeing her lying on the floor, hair in a wild mess, skin covered in dirt, and smelling like the inside of a garbage bin.
"Uh, Toph?" Katara asked, waking up the blind girl. "Uh, aren't you gonna get set for today?"
Then, Toph spat out a spit wad over at the spittoon right near Yue's left leg, causing the princess to groan at how disgusting she could be at times.
Getting up to her feet, Toph dusted herself off and sighed, "I'm ready."
"You're not even going to clean up?" Yue asked her. "You a have a little… Actually, you have a lot of dirt on you."
"You call it dirt, but I call it a healthy coating of Earth." Toph defended.
"We need a girl's day out," Katara suggested.
-x-
"The Fancy Lady Day Spa?" Toph and Yue went, looking at the engraved sign on the outside of the building.
"Sounds like my kind of place," said Toph by herself, not sounding positive.
"Yep," Katara stated. "You two ready for some serious pampering?"
"It doesn't sound too bad," the princess responded, sounding almost like Sokka now.
"Okay," added Toph, "just so long as they don't try to touch my feet."
Yue didn't understand why the girl didn't want her feet to be taken care of, as they were the dirtiest part of her body. Then assumed that it had something to do with her Earthbending ability to see the world with her feet, and that anything done to them, even simple cleaning, would probably hinder her bending that allowed for sight. She had assumed properly when, several minutes later after they had gone inside, they had started off with basic pedicures that she saw Toph getting irritated by one of the attendants trying to clean the dirt off her soles…and saw her send said attendant through a wall with her bending.
Wow, and with just her feet alone, she thought, unwilling to try anything to the girl's feet after seeing such a remarkable feat of Earthbending.
On the other hand, she enjoyed her own pedicure, and assumed it was because her skin was smoother than Toph's, just like Katara's, and could only sit in the chair and wait until her feet were done. About a half hour later, the three were in individual mud bathtubs, cleansing themselves of any stress they had through the use of mud. While it was considered strange for Yue, she had to admit that she had a liking for mud baths.
This mud is two things: It's clean and it's dirty, all at the same time, she thought, relaxing as a woman came, carrying towels, past them.
Toph used her bending to make a scary-looking face with the mud on her face to frighten the attendant away from them.
"Ah-ha-ha!" Katara and Yue laughed.
A whole hour later, they were all sitting around in the sauna, with Toph and Katara using their bending to generate the steam instead of having to get up.
"Ah, this is the good life," said Yue, and the others agreed on that belief.
When the day was done for them there, they left with make-up on their faces. Yue's being the same as before back home, but was brighter and gave her a sense of appearing as a simple pretty girl instead of a princess.
"Wow," Toph went, "I'm not usually into that stuff, but I do feel all…girly."
"I'm glad you feel that way," said Katara. "It was about time the three of us did something nice together. Don't you think, Yue?"
"Mm-hmm," the princess agreed, but her mind was on other things, such as the world outside the walls.
As they walked toward a bridge, they past a trio of older girls that looked as though, to Yue, they wore too much make-up.
"Nice make-up," said one of them to Toph.
"Thank you," she responded back to her.
"For a clown!" The girl laughed at her, causing her face to drop to the ground.
Yue didn't like her right now and expressed it with, "I think you look like a sad clown to wear that much make-up to smile."
That brought Toph's head back up as she laughed at the girl who was just offended.
"That was funny! But this is also funny…" She told them, and then, since they were on the bridge, she used her bending to create a hole beneath the three, and sent them into the water beneath the bridge. "That was funny!"
"My hair!" The girls cried, and Katara used her bending to wash them down the stream.
"That's all, folks," she snickered, and they resumed their walk onwards. "Those girls didn't know what they were talking about."
"Yeah," agreed Yue, trying to cheer Toph up about the incident. "They must have never met a girl as beautiful as you, Toph."
"It's okay. One of the good things about being blind is that I don't have to waste my time worrying about appearances. I don't care what I look like. I'm not looking for anyone's approval. I know who I am." Toph told them.
"That's one of the things I really admire about you, Toph," the princess said to her. "You're so confident and self-assured. You never let anything get you down."
"Same here, Toph," added Katara, "and I know it doesn't matter to you, but I think you're very pretty."
"You really think I am?"
"Definitely."
"Thanks. I'd return the compliment, but I have no idea what you look like."
Yue giggled at that, but added that she was beautiful, too. The only pretty Earthbending Master she'd known so far.
"Hey, I'm gonna go wander around for a bit, but I'll see you back at the house, okay?" She told them, and then ran off.
-x-
Having more time on her hands than usual for just one day, Yue wandered around the Middle Ring's shops and saw some of the people she recognized as refugees from the Lower Ring shopping for things. The sun was high above her head as one particular shop…and one particular person caught her eye: Iroh of the Fire Nation, purchasing a small basket. With very little to risk, she decided to see what he was up to while he was here in the city.
"Uh, excuse me, sir?" She called out to him. "Hello, how are you?"
Iroh, still pleased to see that the young woman was alive, greeted her, "I am doing fine, and what of yourself, ma'am?"
"I'm having a good day. What brought you to Ba Sing Se?"
"The same thing everyone came here for: Protection."
As they walked down the street, Yue noticed that the retired general seemed to have something on his mind that required the basket he acquired. Then, the peace was disturbed by a child crying and his mother trying to calm him down. Yue saw Iroh take a liuqin from a stand and began playing a tune that seemed so ancient that it was eternal.
"Leaves from the vine, falling so slow. Like fragile, tiny shells, drifting in the foam. Little soldier boy, come marching home. Brave soldier boy, comes marching home." He sung, and the boy ceased his sobbing, even grabbing onto his beard as a form of appreciation for what the elder man had done for him. "Ye-ouch!"
"Heh-heh-heh!" The child and Yue both laughed.
A minute later, they had resumed their walk down to wherever it was that Iroh was going.
"You have quite a friendly position with children," Yue praised him. "Where did you learn how to calm a child down like that?"
"One of the skills I acquired over the years," he answered, but Yue felt that he left something about it out, and left it at that.
Much of her time with Iroh was pleasant and experience-developing: They helped a bunch of kids apologize to a large man for the minor and accidental destruction of his window, letting it slide because he didn't wish to expose a young woman to a sight of violence over something so meaningless, helped a wannabe-mugger find his confidence and determination to get control of his life back and pursue his goal of becoming a masseur, and even found out about each other's attempts at what to do when they arrived in the city, with Yue explaining that, from her previous experience with the Dai Li, there wasn't much actual freedom around, while Iroh explained that his nephew, Zuko and he were just trying to avoid Azula and the Fire Nation by hiding among the refugees, while at the same time managing a good job serving tea, much to his nephew's dislike half the time. Then, she noticed that they had arrived to a tree atop a hill, and saw Iroh setting up something. It looked like a scroll, but had a young man's face sketched on it. When he was through setting up, she got onto her knees and asked him, "Who was he?"
"My son, Lu Ten," he answered, his voice sounding so sad. "Today's his birthday."
That explained why he had the basket and other items with him to her: It was for a type of memorial service for his late son.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "What happened to him?"
"He didn't make it in the war for Ba Sing Se. It shattered me that I called the siege off and returned the remaining soldiers back to the Fire Nation. I was a very different man back then. When I was young, I had a vision that I would one day take the capital city and acted upon it. I didn't know that it would cost me my son."
The princess listened to him as he spoke of his son, admiring some of the things about him, like how he was a talented Firebender, a soldier that would go into battle for his country, an heir to a once-future Fire Lord, and one of Iroh's trusted advisors during the siege. It seemed almost weird conversing with a member of the Fire Nation on equal ground, in a setting that appeared neutral and without violence for the girl, but it also felt right: Two people from two of four nations at war, speaking as equals.
Iroh looked up to her and noticed that she seemed different from the first time they had met each other back at the North Pole. She looked so free from any burdens that she might've had there.
"I can't see much of the Moon Spirit's presence in you, anymore," he told her. "You appear as though your life is now your own."
She gave a light smile and thanked him for telling her so, feeling freer than she used to before. Every day, it felt like she was wearing chains that were disappearing every time she had done or heard something new and meaningful. It even made her heart beat stronger than it used to back home.
"I feel like I should ask you questions I feel I should know, like why Zuko is…or was trying to capture the Avatar, why your nation started a war and drove many people to places like the Lower Ring and out of their homes that are either replaced by colonies or barren, and how you can live with what has happened, but I won't ask such questions. Not because of what was or will be, but because of what is right now. I wish for you to enjoy your son's birthday, and I don't want to ruin it for you." She told him, getting off her knees and turning away. "It was…really good to see you, Mr. Iroh. Goodbye."
"You could stay a while, if you'd like," he uttered to her. "It's always a pleasure and an honor to meet a new person."
She turned back and sat down next to him.
"That song you sung to the boy back at the market," she went. "What was it about?"
"It was about a brave soldier returning home…safely, after a war was ended." He answered her.
"Could you…sing it again, please?"
"Leaves from the vine, falling so slow. Like fragile, tiny shells, drifting in the foam. Little soldier boy, come marching home. Brave soldier boy, comes marching home."
Yue then sung it herself, but had broken into tears because it was so beautiful.
"…Brave soldier comes marching home…" She cried, wiping away her tears. "I should be going now. I promised my boyfriend I would meet up with him soon. Thank you for telling me about your son and the song, Mr. Iroh. Goodbye."
She got up and walked away, leaving the aged and wise man to continue his memorial contribution to his son.
May his brave soldier boy come marching home some day, she thought, wishing she had met Lu Ten before his premature passing.
-x-
If there was a sense of humor that was added to her day out in the city, it was her minutes of being with Aang, who was spending his day looking around for Appa, still determined to find him, even if it meant others here wouldn't tell him what he had a right to know. She just noticed him gliding around in the sky and then land on the ground in front of a site littered with cages or habitats that had animals in them.
"Aang, what brings you here?" She asked him.
"Yue? I was looking for Appa here at the zoo," he answered her.
The princess had never been to a zoo before, but since she was here, she might as well help him with the search for their missing bison. As they walked down the path, they noticed various animals that they never saw elsewhere: Gopher Bears, Armadillo Lions, Dragonflies, and even a Gorilla Goat. But all of them were in unkempt cages or habitats, covered in their filth, displeasing the pair.
"They all seem unhappy," Yue said to Aang, who felt the same way about them.
"They are unhappy," said a man a few feet from them.
"Are you…the one in charge?" She asked him.
"Yes, I am," he answered her. "Oh! Oh, my! You're the Avatar and the Northern Water Tribe Princess! I'm Kenji."
"Nice to meet you, Kenji," Aang responded.
"So, Kenji, why are all the animal attractions in such unkempt conditions?" Yue asked him.
"Oh, the Dai Li won't give the zoo any more funding because the children stopped coming, and the people won't come because the zoo's filthy and broke." He answered her.
It was a double-trouble type of problem to the princess' opinion for Kenji: No one would come to this place unless it was funded, but the so-called 'cultural authority' of Ba Sing Se wouldn't provide funding unless people came. If it was viewed as a type of battle, the outcome would be a lousy stalemate with no sign of change in the near future. As Aang looked over at an animal she was paying no attention to, Yue thought of just trying to live up to her hope of making a difference in the world with the life she'd been given…and an idea suddenly popped in!
"Kenji, why don't we take the animals and setup the zoo outside the Inner Wall in the Agrarian Zone?" She suggested. "There's plenty space there that's not being used for any agricultural projects at the moment? And you would have more space for your animal attractions."
"That's a great idea, Yue!" Aang agreed. "What do you think, Kenji?"
"Sure, but how are we going to get all of them outside the wall?" He asked them.
"Oh, just leave everything to me," the Air Nomad told him. "I'm great with animals."
It wasn't just five minutes later that everything went down the wrong path that they weren't intended to go down. The zoo animals were wreaking havoc across the neighborhood of the Middle Ring and never going anywhere near the Lower Ring as they were supposed to in Aang's plan. Yue, having strayed away from a Platypus Bear that was damaging the roof of one of the buildings, sighed a breath of relief, as people were getting the general idea to get away from the animals while Aang was taking care of the situation…or at least that was the general idea, but she guessed that even the most-skilled of animal trainers had their faults.
Aang, a little bending would be helpful that could clear a pathway for these animals and keep people safe from them. She thought, noticing a man she'd only seen once before: It was that guy with the cabbages, giving up on them as he saw animals eating them. I feel sorry for him.
Aang showed up after leaping away from a Hog Monkey and driving away Dragonflies from some people that didn't get inside a building.
"This is so much different from how I had envisioned it would work out," he told her.
"Well, plans don't always work out the way you expect they will," she explained to him. "Thinking, preparing, even dreaming… They're all different from simply doing what they are laid out as. Hmm? Aang, do you have the whistle you use to call Appa from large distances on you?"
"Yeah," he responded, showing her the whistle, "why?"
"If it works on him, maybe, with a little luck, it'll work on these animals. Maybe your Airbending may help with it. Give it a try."
With nothing to really lose from trying, Aang threw the whistle up and took in a huge breath with his bending, catching the whistle and blowing through it, releasing a louder version of the quieter sound that Yue was familiar with, causing her to cover her ears to deafen the noise.
I had to suggest this? She thought, hoping her idea would work to gather the animals toward them, and suddenly, the Dragonflies and Platypus Bear were starting to approach them. Uh-oh.
"Here, Yue, grab on!" Aang told her, forming his Air Scooter and climbing aboard it.
She grabbed onto him and was immediately taken away from the animals that began to multiply and follow them.
"Your plan's working on them, Yue!" The Avatar cheered, and the princess realized that he was right: The animals were gathering up and following them. "All we gotta do now is lead them to the wall and out into the Agrarian Zone."
"Uh, Aang?" She asked him, concerned with riding this ball of air with him. "Are you sure this thing is safe to ride on?"
"Yes. Just don't let go of me, okay?" He answered her, and she held on tighter.
As they led the animals to the wall, Kenji was trying to convince the guards of the wall to open it up so that the animals could get out, but was only able to do so with the aid of the stampede approaching. The guards used their Earthbending to open the section of the wall up as the animals stampeded past them. Aang and Yue got away from the stampede and the Avatar let the princess off his Air Scooter to continue the job. She watched in awe as the Airbender displayed impressive Earthbending that she'd never seen before from any of the other Earthbenders. He shifted the ground to create secluded habitat areas for the animals, paths for people to walk on to see the animals, and accessories for the new zoo. When he had finished, she went back to the Lower Ring and gathered people close by to see the new zoo. They were amazed by the fact that it was larger and more-lively than the old one. Children gathered around to look at a Platypus Bear relaxing in a small pond in its habitat, an Armadillo Lion happily rolling around a large pillar of rock, and some Dragonflies suspending from a hallowed-out, wheel-like rock construction, hanging like bats.
"Aang, you were incredible with your Earthbending," the princess told the Avatar.
"Thanks, Yue," he praised her, and then Kenji showed up, happy that the new zoo had people arriving and enjoying themselves. "What do you think of your new facilities, Kenji?"
"Thank you, young Avatar, Northern Water Tribe Princess," he praised them. "You should consider working with animals for a living."
Yue looked over at a habitat that contained an Elephant Mandrill, but gasped in disappointment.
"Maybe, but I don't think everything went right," she told them, pointing to a cat that was also in the habitat with the animal. "But we got the zoo animals here, and that counts as something, right?"
Aang laughs, nervously, and then goes to collect the cat from the habitat while Yue looked over at the Rabbaroo as it hopped around its own habitat, its young looking over at her and other children. When Aang came back after returning the cat, and various pets that were escorted to the new zoo by accident, he escorted Yue back to the city's Middle Ring on his glider.
"Thank you, Aang," she told him. "I'm sorry that we didn't find Appa."
"It's okay," he responded. "Heh… Have fun with Sokka."
"Sure, and if we find anything that may lead to Appa, I'll be sure to let you know."
"Thanks, Yue," and with that, he took into the air again, heading back to the house, while she went off in search of her boyfriend.
-x-
She recognized the sound of a boomerang being thrown anywhere, and found Sokka walking down the candle-lit streets.
"And how was your day?" She asked him, making her presence known to him.
"Yue? My day was pretty down: Everything was just too perfect…except for this zoo I went to earlier in the afternoon. The guy in charge was upset that no one would come to the place while it was filthy and broke." He told her.
"The Ba Sing Se Zoo? That's where I met up with Aang earlier! We helped the zookeeper relocate the animals to outside the city's wall. I'll show you the new zoo later." She then noticed his boomerang and asked to try it.
Sokka obliged and showed her how to throw it. WHOOSH! She threw it with all of her might and watched it twirl around in the air.
"Wow, Yue. Not bad for your first try." Sokka praised her, and then caught the boomerang for her, suggesting a little more practice later on.
They pass by a man trying to handle his Ostrich Horse, but stopped at the sound of voices coming from a low window.
"Hmm?" Yue went, and Sokka looked through the window, seeing a young woman in front of a group of other young women and an elder woman and bodyguard, reading a scroll to them.
"Through all the long night, winter moon glows with bright love, sleet her silver tears." The young woman read.
"Poetry," Sokka sighed.
Yue was about to say something when the Ostrich Horse went and struck Sokka in the rear and he fell into the room with the women, startling them. She then entered the room herself and helped him up and removing the window frame that was on him.
"We are so sorry. He was struck in his rear…and we just wind up…here?" She apologized, although she felt intimidated by the older woman in front of them.
She applauded her and introduced herself: "Good to have you here. I am Madam Macmu-Ling, and this is my class."
Yue and Sokka bowed to her and the other women.
"Five, seven, then five, syllables mark a haiku, remarkable folk." Madam Macmu-Ling told them.
"Haikus are real good. We are Yue and Sokka. How do you do, ma'am?" Yue responded, speaking in haiku, holding Sokka's hand.
The ladies applauded her for her kind haiku; even Madam Macmu-Ling was impressed.
"Chittering monkeys, in the spring they climb treetops, and think themselves tall." She told them.
"Ooh," the students reacted, knowing that she had challenged them to a battle with her haiku.
Yue was lost to this, but Sokka got the message the moment he heard it and shot back with, "You think you're so smart, with your fancy, little words, this is not so hard."
"Whole seasons are spent mastering the form, they style, none calls it well," the teacher countered, and gave Yue a chance to try her form.
"We call it easy. Like we paddle our canoes, we'll paddle yours, too." She told her, and the students laughed, amazed by her haiku.
"There's nuts and there's fruits, in fall, the clinging plumb drops, always to be squashed," Macmu-Ling retorted, her voice becoming stricter against the young couple, and she took a plumb drop and squashed it in front of them.
"Squish-squash, sling that slang. We're always right back at ya, like my…boomerang!" Sokka defended Yue, even taking out his boomerang to add insult to injury, and the students laughed.
Macmu-Ling, annoyed and unable to come up with a new haiku, bowed her head in defeat and walked off the stage they were on.
"That's right, he's Sokka, it's pronounced with an 'okka', young ladies, see ya!" Yue ended with her latest haiku, and walked out of the building with her love as the girls applauded them as they left.
As soon as they were a block away, Yue exhaled a breath of relief, telling Sokka, "I never did anything like that before in my life. How well did I do, in your opinion, Sokka?"
"You passed with flying colors, Yue," he told her, and embraced her.
Then, without any type of warning, droplets of water fell on the ground around them…from a dark-grey sky. It was now raining, spoiling their moment. Sokka, being a gentleman, walked her over to a shelter where they could wait for it to either cease or let up.
"If I'd know this were going to happen, I'd brought an umbrella," he apologized to her.
"It's okay, Sokka," she forgave him. "How could any of us have known that it would rain today? And, anyhow, being with you still makes the day good."
She then kissed him as he held onto her. He kissed her back, and the sounds of the rain were completely forgotten by them. SWISH! Something flew right past them, causing them to end their kiss and see what it was: It was tiny, white, and had wings.
"You think that was Momo?" Yue asked Sokka.
"He's the only little critter we know that looks anything like that," responded Sokka, and noticed three small, cat-like creatures running away from the flying critter. "And it looks like he's chasing after some Pygmy Pumas. Let's go."
They ran after them as the rain continued to pour heavily on their heads. The chase lead them from the Upper Ring, through the Middle Ring, where Yue nearly fell and hit her head hard if it weren't for Sokka catching her and pulling her back up, and all the way down to the Lower Ring, where they found that it was Momo, but it wasn't the only thing they found: Momo, looking like he was in a state of total depression, was lying in an indent in the ground that looked like a large footprint that belonged to an equally-large animal, larger than any that they've encountered before…or were even familiar with. Yue picked up Momo and held him close to herself whilst Sokka examined the indenture. He looked up at them with a smile on his face.
"Yue, this is a footprint…belonging to Appa," he revealed to them. "This is Appa's footprint."
Yue then deduced that the pumas had led Momo to Appa's footprint after meeting the lemur.
"We gotta tell Aang and the others right now," she told them. "Sokka, you go get them, and I'll wait here with Momo."
"Are you sure?" Sokka asked her, not wanting her to get hurt.
"I'm sure. I'll be fine. Go."
He agreed and ran back to the house at the Upper Ring whilst they waited by the footprint. Less than half an hour later, he came back, accompanied by Aang, Katara and Toph, and Yue showed them the footprint, revealing that Appa was indeed in the city somewhere.
Aang, wiping the sweat and water from his face, looked up at Yue and said, "Thanks, Yue. We got a new lead on where to find him."
With the water dripping onto her chest, the princess replied, "The sooner we find Appa, the happier we'll all be. Today has been a great day for me."
A/N: My first completed chapter of this new year! Tell me what you think of this chapter. I'm also thinking of pushing the story up to being mature, as the later chapters may or will become heavier in my attempts to do more with Yue now that she lives. Long live Yue for Sokka and not Hahn, who's undeserving of her. See ya!