Chapter Six
When Tenzin woke up shivering on the soggy riverbank his first clear thought was of Lin.
Ignoring the groaning protest from his battered muscles, Tenzin carefully pushed himself upright and began calling for her, more than a little panicked when he didn't find any sign of her in his immediate vicinity. He instantly began second-guessing his decision to leap off of a thirty foot overhang. She had known that he planned to jump. He had seen the acceptance and resignation in her eyes in those few seconds before he took them over the edge. Still, Tenzin wasn't certain that she'd been completely prepared for it.
Although he had used his airbending to slow their hurtling descent towards the pitching water below, Lin hadn't been able to maintain her hold on him. He could feel her arms begin to slacken around his neck. In his effort to grasp hold of her and keep her steady, he lost control of his airbending jet only seconds before they plunged into the icy river below. And after they he the water, Tenzin lost sight of Lin.
He didn't remember much following that moment. The frigid water had been such a shock to his system that he was certain he had blacked out for a few seconds during his fight to keep his head above the churning waves. The next thing he knew he was on the riverbank, half sprawled across a dead tree trunk, bruised and banged up and completely alone. With dread and fear settling in his belly like a leaden weight, Tenzin stumbled painfully along the bank in search of Lin, his heart dying a little each time his cries went unanswered. Still, he kept on calling out to her and muttering, hoping, pleading with the spirits themselves for her to be okay. If something happened to Lin, he would never get over it. He would never forgive himself.
His search seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Tenzin felt as if he had been walking for hours instead of minutes when he finally spotted Lin as she made a valiant effort to pull herself from the water and up onto shore. He sprinted over to her side, falling to his knees to help pull her waterlogged form from the water. She was trembling and her lips were blue, but she was thankfully alive and that was all that mattered to him.
Before she was even settled, Tenzin threw his arms around her and hugged her tight. "Thank goodness you're okay!" he cried fiercely, "I've never been so scared in my life!" He reared back, gripping her shoulders almost desperately. "Why didn't you answer me?"
"Sorry…I was too busy choking on water," she grunted with brimming sarcasm, "I'll do better next time."
Tenzin drew her shivering body closer, trying to provide her with warmth by means of his own body heat. "You could have died," he admonished her, "Why didn't you hold on to me before?"
"Why did you let go?" Lin countered weakly.
It was her lame attempt at a joke, Tenzin knew, but he couldn't bring himself to laugh…not when she looked like death. Carefully then, he lowered her back against the ground, mindful not to cause her further discomfort. He briskly chafed her arms and legs with his hands, hoping that the constant friction would help to restore blood flow to her extremities. While her skin warmed a bit, she still remained alarmingly pale.
Recalling what she had revealed to him as they'd raced through the forest on his air scooter, Tenzin said, "Try to relax. I'm going to see how badly you're hurt."
Lin jerked a nod. "Okay…but don't poke around too much."
As he carefully peeled away the ragged remains of her tunic for closer inspection, Tenzin asked, "How were you hurt in the first place, Lin? When were you hurt?"
"I'm not sure…" she mumbled, "All I know is that I woke up in that box and this is how it was…" She grimaced despite the tentative care he took with her. "Be careful!" she hissed, "You have no idea how much I hurt."
"I know," he soothed, "I'll take care of it." Unfortunately, as he gradually uncovered the wound, Tenzin realized that what he had assumed was a cut or perhaps even a gash was actually an extremely severe burn. The angry red, raw patch of skin encompassed her left flank as far down as her hip. Lin's flesh was charred, blistered, swollen and, if the purulent drainage was any indication, infected as well. Tenzin swallowed past the acrid lump that rose in his throat, clamping down on the urge to cry. Lin needed a healer and she needed one soon.
The problem with that was that they were out in the middle of nowhere and Tenzin had no idea how close the nearest town was or even if there was a nearest town. They had no money, no shelter and no viable means of transportation other than their own feet. The situation was dire and he knew it.
"Well?" Tenzin jerked a startled glance to Lin's expectant features, shaken from his troubled thoughts by her impatient query. He made a mighty effort to mask his worry, but Lin could plainly read his emotions as they chased across his expressive face. "Is…is it bad?" she asked him.
Tenzin forced a wooden smile. "No. Not so much."
His forced bravado was answer enough for Lin. She leaned her head back into the marsh and swallowed thickly. "You're a horrible liar, you know that, Tenzin? You always have been."
"I'm going to have to find something to pack it," he said, his eyes already darting over their surroundings in search of some herbal aid, "Some eucalyptus maybe…"
"So what…suddenly you're a healer now?" Lin teased him tiredly, "I guess being the son of the avatar and the greatest waterbender ever has finally gone to your head."
"Stop being so flippant. I know you're scared, Lin."
"I don't get scared," she denied in a mumble, but she deliberately turned her face aside so he wouldn't see with his own eyes what a lie that was.
"Don't worry. My mom taught me some stuff. I'll take care of you."
"Tenzin, I've seen your idea of care-giving, so you'll forgive me if that reassurance doesn't fill me with confidence."
His lips turned up in a small smile, Tenzin reached over to smooth back tangled wisps of wet hair from her clammy forehead. "Right now, I'm all you have okay. Beggars can't be choosy, Lin." Extremely cognizant of the fact that they were still in danger and that remaining out in the open probably wasn't the wisest decision, Tenzin asked, "If I help you to stand, do you think you could walk?"
She smirked at him. "Do I have a choice?"
"Well, we could just hang out here on the bank and wait for those thugs to come after us again," he suggested dryly.
"Walking it is then."
Tenzin was incredibly careful as he assisted Lin to her feet. He flanked her on her uninjured side so as not to put more pressure on the already festering wound. As he looped her arm around his neck to support her lagging body, Tenzin could feel warmth begin to radiate from her skin and he knew what it meant. Lin was starting to spike a fever. He knew that he needed to pack her wound and find them shelter as soon as possible. Unfortunately, as he gradually became aware of faint shouts sounding in the distance, Tenzin wasn't sure if either thing was possible in the foreseeable future. The frightening thing was that he wasn't entirely sure Lin could wait.
"Come on," he encouraged her, shuffling them both along towards the trees, "If we can get deep enough into the forest, we can hide out there until they finally give up and go away."
"Tenzin, I'm sorry…" Lin mumbled unintelligibly, "I'm so sorry…I never meant for this to happen…"
"I know that."
"But I made such a mess of everything…and sorry… Sorry about this trip and sorry about Oogi…"
"Don't think about it," he urged her, "Just keep moving."
However, it became abundantly clear after a few hundred feet that Lin didn't have the stamina to go any further. She began sliding down his side, tripping over her own feet as her wobbly legs gave out from beneath her. "Rest for a second and then we'll pick up again if you can," he told her as he helped her ease down onto the forest floor.
"I…I don't think I can," she mumbled wearily, "I'm so tired."
"It's okay…it's okay, Lin…" he reassured her almost mechanically, "We'll figure something out."
"You know you can leave me here," she told him, "I won't blame you. We both know I probably won't make it out of here. Survival of the fittest and all that…"
Tenzin dismissed the suggestion with a low grunt. "Don't say stuff like that! Your fever is making you loopy."
She gripped his forearm in a surprisingly strong grip, her cloudy green eyes suddenly lucid as she stared up at him. "I'm being serious. If you stay with me then we both get caught."
He shrugged, the contours of his youthful face tight with resignation. "Then we both get caught."
"It's not worth it, Tenzin!"
"It's worth it to me!"
Lin wilted back into a bed of dried leaves and twigs, frustrated with him for being stubborn and with herself for lacking the strength to press on. And, as she usually did when she felt cornered, Lin lashed out. "I can't believe you're being so stupid right now! I figured at least the logical side of you would see the need for one of us to get away, if for no other reason than to tell the story! What do you think is going to happen to you if those guys get their hands on you again?"
"I'll figure it out."
"No, you won't. And I can't save your butt this time, Tenzin! I can't even save my own. So stop being an idiot and get out of here!"
Tenzin didn't even flinch in response to her harsh words. In fact, he brushed them aside altogether. "Insulting me isn't going to make a bit of difference, Lin," he told her, "I'm still not leaving you. Get over it."
"How is staying here helping the situation?"
"I'm helping you."
"I'd leave you," she lied brazenly, "I'd be out of here so fast, you'd think I was bending air!"
He scoffed at that declaration. "No, you wouldn't."
"How can you be sure? You don't know me as well as you think," she challenged.
"I know you better than I know myself," he countered, "You wouldn't leave me, Lin."
For a moment she held her challenging glower and then, without warning, her expression crumpled in anguish. She regarded him with a wide, imploring stare. "Tenzin, please…" she whispered, abruptly switching from bravado to outright pleading, "You have to run. I don't want anything to happen to you. If something did then I would—,"
"Stop worrying about me and hush up for a second," he interrupted in a brusque tone tempered by affection, "I'm trying to think up our next move."
There weren't very many places for them to run. All around them were dense pockets of trees which seemed to stretch on for miles and miles. Escape would involve evasive maneuvers, agile turns and being fleet of foot to avoid the massive trunks and sturdy shoots of bamboo. Frankly, that wasn't an option. Lin definitely didn't have the strength to keep running, much less the endurance to bob and weave through clusters of trees.
It was an unfortunate realization because the reality was that they were still being hunted. Tenzin was pretty sure that their kidnappers would soon overtake them again if they didn't make some kind of progress. But he couldn't move Lin. She was already hazy and lethargic and, if her fever continued to escalate, Tenzin knew that delirium would soon follow.
Lin was sick and growing sicker. She needed someplace safe to heal and rest, but Tenzin didn't know how he would get that for her if they didn't move. Conversely, however, they couldn't move because Lin was too sick. It was a vicious circle and no matter what decision he made, the choice was going to suck. Overwhelmed and anxious, Tenzin turned his face towards the sky, as if asking the clouds for a sign, and suddenly found himself abnormally fascinated with the treetops swaying above their heads. And then he had an idea.
"So maybe we can't go forward anymore," he remarked to Lin in a cryptic tone as he bent to scoop her into his arms, "But that doesn't mean we can't go up."
Before Lin had fully discerned his intentions, Tenzin was already jumping up into the tree branches, leaping from one to another, bouncing higher and higher until they were deep enough within the foliage to be concealed from anyone who might be down on the ground below. "This is your bright idea?" Lin hissed dubiously after Tenzin had situated her onto a particularly sturdy branch and then perched himself on the one directly beneath it, "We're going to hide in a tree?"
"They're not going to look for us up here," he reassured her, "All we need to do is keep quiet and sit tight and we'll be safe." He tipped a glance up at her. "Besides, you got any better ideas?"
"Yeah, I do," she muttered, her words slightly slurred but no less forceful, "I told you to leave me, remember, and this was your brilliant alternative."
"Well, that was never an option."
"Maybe not for you," Lin countered wearily.
"Oh please," Tenzin groaned in long-suffering, "I thought we were done with that argument."
"Would that make you happy, Tenzin?" she asked a little too sweetly.
Tenzin turned a wary glance up at her. "Well…yeah, it would."
"Then nope, we're not done with it."
He shook his head in mild exasperation. "How is it that you can be so sick and still be such a pain in the neck?" he grumbled.
"Eh, it's a gift."
"Aren't I the lucky one?"
"Hey, you had your chance to escape but you chose otherwise."
"Would you drop it already?" he huffed, "It's a crazy idea and you know it! Do you really think for one second that I would leave you, Lin?"
She shook her head and leaned back into the rough tree bark. "No, I don't. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't," she muttered, "I'm not stupid, Tenzin. I'm really sick and there's no one around to help me get better. This isn't going to… What I mean is that… I'm probably going to d—,"
"Don't!" he flared sharply, "Don't you dare say it!"
"I'm trying to be realistic."
"Just stop talking, Lin!"
But she didn't. She couldn't. Now that she had allowed herself to entertain the fear, she couldn't stop herself from playing out the scenario to its conclusion. "If you keep trying to help me, I'm only going to slow you down and, in the end, it's going to be a waste of time! Don't you want to go back home and see your parents again? Don't you want to get your airbending tattoos? You've got a whole life ahead of you, Tenzin!"
"So do you!" he retorted, "I don't want to have this conversation at all!"
"One of us has to be reasonable."
Tenzin snorted. "And that's you? Since when?"
"You're just mad because you know I'm right."
"No, I'm mad because you're being ridiculous!" he tossed back, "What kind of friend would I be if I just abandoned you to save myself?"
"It's my fault you're in this mess," she argued, "It's my fault that you lost Oogi."
"Don't think about it," he reiterated and he couldn't be sure if he was saying the words for Lin's benefit or his own.
"How can I not think about it? He's your bison, Tenzin! I know how much you love him," Lin cried, "What if you never see him again? Haven't you already lost enough because of me?"
"I thought you said that we would find him eventually," Tenzin reminded her, "Or that he would find us. You were adamant about it."
"I only said that because I knew you wouldn't leave with me otherwise," Lin confessed softly.
"I know," he replied with equal softness, "Just like I know that I'm never going to see him again." He angled yet another glance up at her. "I'm not going to pretend that it doesn't hurt or that it's not hard because Oogi has been with me since he was born. I knew the moment I saw him that he was mine. And I'm going to miss him. But that doesn't mean I blame you for what happened, Lin, because I don't."
"I wish you did. I wish you hated me…then maybe you'd leave me."
"Stop talking," he ordered her again, "You're tired and you're scared and it's making you irrational. Try to get some rest, okay?" Tenzin reached up to grope around for her hand and when he found it he gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze. "I need you as much as you need me, Lin. I don't know what I would do if you weren't here with me now."
"Me too," she managed to choke a few seconds later.
"So enough with all the leaving talk," Tenzin said, "It's not going to happen."
"Okay," Lin whispered, "I'm going to get some sleep now. I'm really tired."
He closed his eyes, both relieved and worried by her feeble admission. "Good idea. Just don't fall out of the tree…because that would suck."
After tipping a drowsy, appraising glance down at the ground far below, Lin laughed in spite of herself. "Finally something we agree on." However, an instant before fatigue completely overwhelmed her and her eyes could droop completely, she whispered, "Hey, Tenzin?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad you stayed. Thanks for not leaving me because that would have sucked."
He grunted a small chuckle at that. "Yeah, I knew you were full of it, Lin."
An hour later Tenzin was still watching her doze fitfully when the faint strains of muted conversation began to drift up to him through the canopy of leaves. He tensed, recognizing that someone was loitering directly below them. It took him only a few minutes to assimilate their identity. Just as he had expected, their kidnappers hadn't yet given up the search for them.
Reluctant to move or even breathe for fear he would alert the thieves to his and Lin's hiding place, Tenzin slowly raised his arm to nudge Lin awake. Before she could grumble a complaint over being awakened, he quickly pressed his index finger to his lips, indicating that she should keep quiet before pointing meaningfully towards the ground. With a hammering heart, she nodded in understanding, careful to keep her body perfectly still and straight.
"…no sign of them," Tenzin made out just barely, "They must have gotten away." He leaned in closer, straining to hear.
"They're on foot and the girl is injured. They couldn't have gotten far." Tenzin and Lin recognized the voice immediately. It belonged to the firebender who served as the ringleader of the gang. "Keep searching."
"It was a long drop off that cliff," his companion argued, "What if they didn't survive the jump?"
"The kid's an airbender," the leader said, "He survived the jump."
A new voice joined the dispute, this one trembling with fear and uncertainty. "I don't like this. I think we should cut our losses. We're fooling around with the Avatar's kid here. It's not a good idea."
"Jin is right," said yet another voice, and Tenzin recognized it as the dart thrower who had initiated the attack on him and Lin back at their camp, "We've already turned a nice profit from the bison. That merchant from Omashu paid a pretty penny for him. We'll be set for a while."
"No! I want those kids!" the firebender grated out, "At this point, it's not about the money. It's about control and authority. Nobody makes a fool out of me! We keep searching! I want those little brats found!"
Tenzin and Lin traded a grim look at the determined pronouncement, realizing with gathering dread that they had inadvertently made themselves an enemy.
Aang stormed up onto the platform without a bit of preamble, his obvious anger creating a hushed rumble among the crowd. "Where did you get this bison?" he demanded fiercely, "And what have you done with my son?"
"I beg your pardon!" the merchant blustered, "This is an auction and you are completely disrupting my transaction! I realize that you are the Avatar and perhaps things are done a bit differently in Republic City, but I am conducting business here! I demand that you respect…hey, what do you think you're doing? Don't you dare touch him unless you're prepared to purchase him, sir!"
Largely ignoring the man's affronted ranting and raving, Aang stooped to attend to a whimpering Oogi. He lovingly sifted his fingers through the sky bison's matted fur, soothing him and inspecting him for injuries at the same time. Aang wasn't happy with what he found. In addition to the ringed lacerations around Oogi's ankles where the iron manacles cut into his flesh, Aang also found several spots of blistered hide, where Oogi's fur had been completely burned away. He groaned inwardly at the sight of Oogi's injuries.
It didn't take much effort to discern that the animal had been severely mistreated. Even under his loving and careful touch, Aang could feel Oogi tremble and flinch. He swallowed down the lump of sorrow that formed in his throat. But his pity was accompanied by another emotion as well…overwhelming fear. Aang shuddered to think that if Oogi had been abused so callously, then what on earth had become Tenzin and Lin?
With that grim question niggling at him, Aang began quickly bending away the metal bonds holding Oogi, unable to stand the thought of him being chained any longer. Oogi needed a healer. He needed Katara. Somewhere on the fringes of his consciousness, Aang realized that he couldn't help his son. Not right now. But he could help Oogi…and in some way he was doing it for Tenzin because Tenzin couldn't do it himself.
However, the merchant, stunned and infuriated by Aang's audacity, howled in outrage over being ignored and charged the Avatar. With no thought beyond protecting his monetary interests, the man clamped a hand onto Aang's shoulder and yanked him backwards with the demand that Aang keep his hands off "his property." That was the final straw for Aang. In the wake of two days worth of constant fear, anxiety and exhaustion, his patience was obliterated in an instant.
With a low, menacing snarl, he surged to his feet and whipped around to face the merchant. The man recognized his error in judgment only moments before Aang yanked him up by the lapels of his tunic and shook him so hard his teeth rattled. "Tell me what you did with my son!" he bit out, "Where is he? Answer me right now!"
"I…I have no idea wh-what y-you're t…talking about!" the merchant managed in between Aang's violent yanking, "Unhand me, sir!"
"You have about two seconds to tell me where you've taken my son or I won't be responsible for what I do to you!" Aang warned from between clenched teeth.
That threat mobilized the astonished crowd of onlookers and signaled that the time had come for them to flee. Hoards of people scattered frantically for cover, while a brave, curious few concealed themselves but remained close enough in order to witness the unfolding confrontation from afar. Whether they ran or they lingered, however, everyone present seemed to sense that an angry Avatar was a dangerous one, most especially the merchant.
His eyes flared wide with fear as Aang continued to jerk him to and fro like a rag doll. He did his best to pry Aang's hands from his person, but it seemed like the Avatar's hands were manacled into his shirtfront. There was no escape.
"Huang! Huang!" he cried out, his eyes darting frantically among the dispersing throng for a glimpse of his bodyguard, "I need a little help over here!"
When salvation arrived, the entire city square seemed to fall into an awed hush. Huang was not a small man. In fact, big seemed like too inadequate an adjective to describe an individual who more resembled a mountain than a man. He looked to be made of pure muscle, so massive that he even made the assassin who had once hunted Aang across the Fire Nation look puny. The man was abnormally tall, with wide, solid chest that actually blocked out the sun when he stepped forward, a neck that was thick and sturdy like a tree log and fists the size of small boulders. In comparison to that, Aang looked rather small and insignificant. And if the body guard's warning growl was any indication that was exactly how he saw Aang as well.
The merchant flicked a meaningful glance towards Aang's hands, which still gripped the front of his tunic with white-knuckled force. "Do you mind taking care of this for me, please?"
Far from intimidated, Aang flung him away then and turned to face Huang with a heavy sigh. "You don't want to do this," he warned Huang simply, "I have no quarrel with you. This is a matter between me and your employer. If you leave now then you won't put me in the position to have to hurt you."
As far as Aang was concerned, his request was thoughtful, rational and extremely benevolent. As far as Huang was concerned, however, the words were arrogant and made of pure challenge. When he stomped the ground and punched out a wedge of earth, Aang mentally rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long day.
With a deft flick of his wrist, Aang disintegrated the boulder into nothingness before it could make contact and then fluidly whirled from beneath the follow-up attack. In a series of turns and flips, Aang sailed over his assailant's head with the elegance and skill of an acrobat, seemingly unperturbed by the rapid fire series of earthen attacks that followed him. He bounced about on a current of air, withholding his own fire and instead opting to wait for his opponent to tire himself out.
At the rate that Huang the bodyguard was going, it seemed that wouldn't take very long. He relied heavily on brute strength to make his driving assaults. While his attacks were powerful, they were also clunky and predictable. However, what the bodyguard lacked in grace and finesse, he made up for in strength and perseverance. And despite his hulking form, he moved with a surprising agility as he attempted, again and again, to subdue and pin Aang down. True to his airbender roots, however, Aang avoided and evaded, facilely ducking and dodging the earthbender's assault in lieu returning fire and, all the while, he tried to reason with him.
"This isn't necessary! I'm trying to find my son!" he said, "If you don't stop attacking, this is only going to end badly for you!"
And like a self-fulfilling prophecy, that was exactly what happened. One moment, Huang was drawing back in fist in preparation for another attack and then next he was being dinged in the head from the snapping force of Sokka's whirling boomerang. As the giant reeled and stumbled and tried to shake off that dizzying blow Katara manacled him around the neck in the lashing grip of her water whip. She yanked hard and he went toppling to the ground like a felled tree.
There was no time to react to that sneak attack either because before the bodyguard even had a chance to try and recover, Toph had him shackled to the ground by his wrists and ankles with sturdy bands of earth. Once he was down, she secured him further by anchoring him to the ground with metal ropes. She threaded them down through the earth and up around his body and back again until the coils had wrapped his entire frame.
"That should hold him for a while," she said, "He's not getting up again until I want him to."
Aang righted himself with a longsuffering groan as Sokka surveyed Toph's handiwork with a low whistle of appreciation. When he was finished murmuring his awe to her, he then regarded Aang with a single raised eyebrow and commented drolly, "So, I leave you alone for five seconds…"
"I had it under control," Aang told them.
"Yeah, that's totally what it looked like a minute ago," Katara remarked sardonically as she closed the distance between them, "What exactly did you do, Aang? I thought you were supposed to be showing the kids' posters around. How did you manage to get into a fight in that short period of time?"
"That's Twinkle Toes for ya," Toph interjected with a mirthless smirk, "spreading love wherever he goes."
Some two hundred feet away, the merchant watched the exchange and recognized his chance for escape. Utilizing the Avatar's momentary distraction with the arrival of his friends, the merchant quickly ducked out from beneath his hiding place and make a run for it. He hadn't taken three steps before Aang was alerted of his intentions.
"And where do you think you're going?" he demanded right before he sent a shaft of earth rocketing in his direction. Seconds later he was encased up to his neck, immobile and trapped.
Startled by Aang's uncharacteristic show of aggression, Katara started to question him about his actions, but her intention was forgotten when she finally recognized a mewling Oogi situated on the platform not too far away. She squinted in disbelief, already drifting closer as she asked, "That's not…is that Oogi?"
Aang jerked a nod and pointed towards the merchant. "I walked up on that guy over there trying to sell him," he explained briefly, but when Katara whirled back to face him, her eyes flared wide with hope, he added sadly, "Lin and Tenzin weren't with him, Katara. I was trying to get answers out of the guy when he decided to send his thug after me."
In an instant, Toph's cool, tough exterior slipped, revealing the anxiety churning just beneath the surface. "So he hasn't told you anything at all? You don't know where to find Lin and Tenzin?"
An undeniable feeling of failure closely followed Toph's rapidly fired questions and, with a great deal of self-flagellation and regret, Aang shook his head. "No. Not yet."
Although, disappointed and frightened, Toph once again masked her emotions behind a professional exterior. She couldn't fall apart because if she did that then it meant that the situation was truly bad. And Toph simply could not acknowledge her worst fears. She couldn't afford to fall apart, not when her daughter needed her to be strong and capable and determined. Consequently, Toph did what she always did…she ignored the pangs of her maternal instincts in order to do what needed to be done.
"We should question him now," she determined brusquely, "If he knows where Lin and Tenzin are then we'll get it out of him."
As she and Sokka made their way over to the immobilized man, Aang snagged hold of Katara's forearm before she could move to join them. "I know you want answers and I'm not trying to get in the way of that," he murmured in preface, "but Oogi's hurt right now."
"He is?" Katara gasped, trying hard not to think of the implications for Tenzin and Lin, "How bad is it?"
"Pretty bad," Aang confirmed, "Do you think you could you heal him, Katara? If this guy doesn't give us any answers then Oogi is going to be our best chance of finding him…and he won't be able to do that if he's in no shape to help us look."
"But I want to be a part of this, Aang!" Katara insisted fiercely, "If that man knows what's happened to Tenzin, then I want to hear him say the words!"
The anger and frustration in her tone was palpable. Aang sympathized with her. If the merchant was indirectly or directly responsible for their son's disappearance, Katara had every right to confront him. He wasn't surprised that she felt that way because he felt the same. Unfortunately, Oogi was in dire need of medical attention and Katara was the only one with the ability to help him. He told her as much.
"I know it's not fair and it's not right, but it is what it is, Katara."
For a minute it seemed as if she might argue with him. Her body was tensed for battle, but then she deflated abruptly and slumped forward with heavy sigh. Katara fully recognized the logic behind Aang's request and because she did it was difficult to refuse him. Finally, she inclined her head in a terse nod.
"Okay. I'll take care of Oogi," she told him, "You find out what happened to our kids, Aang. Don't let up until he tells you what he knows."
After vowing to her that he would do just that, Aang went to join Sokka and Toph. Already, Sokka was mid-interrogation and picking apart the nuances of the merchant's story. "…so you mean to tell me," he was reiterating dubiously, "that you bought the bison from some guy who claimed to have found him abandoned in the wilderness? It was all perfectly honest and legal? Is that what you're telling me?"
"I swear it's the truth!" the merchant cried, "I didn't know anything about it being stolen! And I definitely don't know anything about any missing children either! I'm innocent!"
"Somehow, I doubt that," Toph interjected, "You're not innocent, not by a long shot. You knew very well that bison was stolen because it's not the first time you've purchased stolen goods, is it?"
"I…I'd rather not speak without legal representation present," the man stammered.
"Oh, he knew it, alright," Sokka grunted humorlessly, "Otherwise, why attack Aang at all?" He leveled the merchant with a penetrating stare. "You got something to hide?"
"I didn't kidnap anyone!" the merchant maintained, "I've done nothing wrong!"
"You assaulted the Avatar, stole his property and attempted to kill him," Toph numerated concisely, "That's a far cry from 'nothing!' And you see, we're very good friends with the Earth King. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to acquaint you with his prison hold…say for the next few decades or so?"
"Okay, okay…I'll talk!" the man rushed out, acutely aware of Aang's dark glare burning a hole into him, "Maybe I did know that the bison was stolen and maybe I was okay with that, but… I never knew who it belonged to and I didn't know where it had come from! I certainly didn't know that it belonged to the Avatar's son!"
The denials and excuses made very little difference to Aang. He wanted answers. "Who sold him to you?" he enunciated coldly.
"A…a man named Hong," the merchant babbled, "I do business with him from time to time…whenever I'm here in Ba Sing Se. He specializes in rare goods."
"And where can we find this Hong?" Toph asked curtly.
"I…I'm not sure. He's a drifter. I don't know much about him! He always finds me! When he offered to sell me the bison, I knew I couldn't pass up such an exceptional find. I…I thought he was going to bring me a lot of money…much more than what I paid for him!"
"Didn't you wonder at all why this guy was so willing to part with it?" Toph queried.
"Or even consider that the only people in the world known to own sky bison happened to be airbenders?" Sokka followed up, "If you didn't at least suspect at some point that bison belonged to the Avatar then you've got rocks for brains!"
"I'm trying to make a living here!" the man cried defensively, "I didn't ask questions!"
It took every bit of self-control he had, but Aang resisted the urge to throttle the man. "I'll bet you didn't."
"It's the truth!" the merchant insisted in a desperate rush, "Hong…he said it was too big for him to care for and…and that he thought I might be interested in taking it off his hands," the man went on to explain, "I didn't realize the animal was injured until after I got him out of the pen and inspected him."
"And then you knew you had to unload him and fast because an injured bison would raise too many suspicions about how you got your hands on him in the first place!" Sokka concluded in a harsh tone. He drew his sword from its sheath and laid the blade against the man's throat. "Tell us where we can find Hong!"
By now the merchant was weeping hysterical tears. "I told you I don't know! I can tell you what he looks like! I can tell you our usual meeting place! But that's all I know! Please don't kill me! Please…"
Aang sneered at his denial. "You're lying to us!"
"Actually, he's not lying," Toph intervened softly, "He's frightened and he's enough of a lying weasel to say anything if he thinks it will save his butt, but he's not doing that now. He honestly doesn't know where to find him, Aang."
Sokka leaned in close to the blubbering man. "Where did you buy the bison?"
"Near the city wall," the merchant wept, "Sometime late last night or early this morning. We made the exchange when it was dark so there wouldn't be too many witnesses!"
"Where did he go afterwards?" Aang ground out, "Is he still in the city?"
"N-No…" the man sniffled, "Hong never stays in the city. He likes to keep a low profile. He…he went his way and I went mine." The merchant bounced desperate, imploring eyes between Sokka, Aang and Toph. "What are you going to do with me?" he asked fearfully.
"Oh you're going to prison for a long time," Toph told him without reserve, "But, if we find out that you haven't given us the whole truth, prison will be the least of your worries. Trust me."
"So what does all of this mean?"
At Katara's quivering query, Sokka, Aang and Toph whirled to face her. She stood there, clutching the folds of her tunic in a white-knuckled grip, as if she knew exactly what they were about to tell her, but was in denial at the same time. It was extremely difficult for Sokka and Aang to meet her eyes and read the dread and devastation darkening their blue depths. "Well?" she pressed impatiently, "Answer me! What does it mean?"
When both men seemed reluctant to answer her question, Toph squared her shoulders and did what they couldn't do. "It means whoever took Lin and Tenzin are already long gone from Ba Sing Se by now," she said, "So we can either wait for this Hong guy to make contact again our blubbering friend over here…or we can try to find the kids on our own."
