Dance – Part 1
It was good to be Momo now.
Momo used to be sad. The Air Temple was a sad place. Then people came and played with Momo. The bald one was nice and liked to play. The cranky one was strange but knew about sharing food. Sharing food meant friends. The girl liked to laugh and play with water. She also liked to feed Momo. Momo really liked her.
Momo liked his all new friends. New friends took him to places of warmth and food. Except for the ice place. The ice place was not so good.
Now Momo had even more friends. New dusty little girl was very nice. She lived like Momo. She knew about picking toes. She was less people and more lemur than the others. Momo liked other lemurs. Now new people had come to the house in the big city. Momo missed the bald one and the water girl. But the old man and the one with the bad eye had fed Momo. They were nice. The new city girl had petted Momo. Momo liked to be petted. Then dusty little girl came back and she liked Momo's new friends too. All were nice. All were happy.
Today Momo woke up alone again in the house. But the new friends had left big bowls of fruit. Momo liked fruit and nuts. The new friends were very nice to leave fruit and nuts. Momo ate the fruit and nuts. Momo also saved some nuts for later.
He hoped his friends would be back soon. Then they could have nuts together.
Sokka was woken up bright and early. Well, it wasn't very bright in his little dungeon, but it was presumably bright outside. Hopefully. Someday, theoretically, Sokka might enjoy being brought out of sleep bright and early by his awesome future-wife's smooth, fruity lips tickling him behind his right ear, but that day was not today. Azula, the girl waking him up, was not his wife. She did not kiss him behind either ear. And he was pretty slushing sure that her lips were not fruity.
"The sun has risen, Water savage," she called out far too brightly for the time of day. The sound echoed in the torture chamber and yanked Sokka awake. "Just as my destiny rises with it, and you will now rise in service to my destiny."
Sokka shook his head and hoped that he was still dreaming. "Um, I'm already standing. You know, what with my arms chained at standing height and all. So, I'm not exactly in a position to give you the rise you're looking for. Wait, did that sound dirty?"
Azula shook her head at him, but Sokka wasn't sure if that was in response to his question, so he just yawned.
Dai Li guards came in and moved to stand behind him where he was chained. One took a position a little ways back, while the other clicked a metal ring of some kind around his right wrist. It looked like the shooty-cuffs that Dai Li agents used to bind people, but this one was attached by just a short braid of metal rings to a second cuff. Sokka heard the rustling of robes as the first agent performed some kind of movement, and the stone walls suddenly spat out the ends of the larger chains like an Airbender who just realized that jerky was meat. The second Dai Li agent moved before Sokka realized what was going on, twisting his cuffed arm down, then wrenching his other arm close the first and clicking the other cuff on the wrist. Sokka was effectively bound with his arms behind his back. Only then did the man remove the larger chains.
Great. From one set of uncomfortable bindings to another. That was going to do wonders for his circulation problems.
The first Dai Li agent stepped forward to grab Sokka by his left arm, while the second went over to Azula and handed her a key on a leather line. "That was well handled," she said. "Bring him out."
Sokka was dragged only a short distance before he found his feet and managed an ungainly walk. "Ow, okay already, I'm moving. Yee, you think you'd give a guy a chance at breakfast before you start with the rough-housing." He looked around the still dark hallways of the Earth King's palace, then said very nonchalantly, "So, is that the key to these cuffy things?"
Azula glared at him as she walked, put the leather line over her head like a necklace, and tucked the key down her silly Dai Li shirt.
Fine. It was too early in the morning for conversation, anyway. He trotted on in silence.
Mai was waiting with Ty Lee outside the palace when they brought Sokka out. He looked a little groggy, although whether that was because he had spent the last day chained up in a standing position or he just wasn't getting enough sleep was an open question. Then again, maybe it was both. Mai didn't really know much about torture techniques; she was fine sticking with the study of how to be a better fighter. Torture just came naturally to her.
Her fingers twitched at the sight of Sokka. The memory of outfitting his undressed body with hidden weapons came and went from her mind.
"Come on, Mai," Ty Lee said from beside her. "Let's get in our carriage. Azula will want to leave right away."
Mai sighed and acquiesced, following the acrobat to the first carriage lined up for the small caravan. They had just gotten seats when Azula herself climbed inside and took the place opposite Ty Lee. Once the Princess was settled, she motioned to the Dai Li agent outside, and Sokka was shoved unceremoniously into the remaining seat.
Right across from Mai.
He looked at her, then shifted his gaze to scan around the carriage interior. So far, so good. No one knew she had snuck him some of her knives the night before. She hadn't slept all last night for the worry, and the worst part was that she still had no idea what exactly she was hoping to accomplish. He wasn't going to be able to escape, and what exactly were they going to do to disrupt Zuko's capture?
Was Zuko even her ally? Who's side was he really on?
Mai hated questions. If only she took orders better, she wouldn't be in this mess.
"I wonder if my brother will ambush us on the road, or wait for us on the docks," Azula said brightly as the carriage swayed into motion. Really, Mai was starting to hope that the Prince wouldn't show up at all, but if pressed, she would probably put a silver piece on the docks. Zuko had a flair for the dramatic that was good at getting him in trouble.
They rode in silence for a while, before the overall tension collapsed in on itself. "Let's play a game," Ty Lee said. Humming to herself, she looked around the carriage's interior. "Hmmm, I spy with my little eye, something... green!"
"Azula's hair deco," Mai grunted. "You've been eying it since she got it."
Ty Lee clapped her hands. "Yay, you win! Your turn."
Mai sighed. She could just tell, it was going to be one of those days.
The carriage's windows were papered over, but Sokka paid as much attention to the journey as he could while locked in a cozy carriage with three identically dressed and expertly groomed teenage girls. Early in the trip, he heard the unmistakable sound of Earthbending, and the whole carriage tilted as though riding down an incline. The ground straightened up again in short order, but the light outside the carriage was dimmer, and as far as he could see through the paper window-covers, tinted green. It reminded him of those crystals they used as lighting everywhere in Ba Sing Se.
They spent a long while on that dark, hazily lit path. Sokka couldn't tell how long before they rode uphill and emerged into the sunlight again, but Mai had sighed thirty-six times in that time and Ty Lee had actually run out of breath once during her talking. He figured it must have been an hour or two, at least.
Even after that, they rode on. During one conversational lull, Sokka said, "So, uh, if the prisoner is allowed to ask questions, where are these docks we're going to? You didn't exactly let me take a potty break before we left."
Mai's made a face at that and Ty Lee giggled, but Azula just kept examining her fingernails. "I suppose it can't hurt to tell you, and intellectual curiosity should be encouraged, even in savages. The Firebender reinforcements who helped capture you came from a ship we landed in the Western Zeixin Lake, near the Serpent's Pass, at a marina maintained for the recreation of Ba Sing Se's elite. We'll be sailing it across the lake, along the eastern river, and out to sea from there."
Sokka frowned. "Wait, the marina the rich guys all used was outside the city? How does that make sense? Then again, I am talking about Ba Sing Se, here, so since when does sense come into it?"
Azula gave him a nod that didn't seem sarcastic or threatening. "Hm. The marina itself is two hundred years old. The elite haven't had the... strength of will to leave the city for their little pleasure boats since the Fire Nation increased our presence here, as part of our plan to assemble and deploy the Great Drill of Destiny. As always, for everything that the Earth Kingdom is too backwards to use effectively, the Fire Nation finds a purpose."
"The Great Drill of Destiny?" Sokka made a face at that, but didn't say anything else, lest Azula take offense at his opinion of Fire Nation naming conventions and slap him around again. He hated that.
Azula gave a helpless shrug in reply. Mai sighed for the thirty-seventh time.
Sokka went back to thinking about how he was going to get out of the mess he was in, an only marginally less frustrating hobby than figuring out the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom's Impenetrable City.
They arrived at the marina without incident. Mai and Ty Lee exited their carriage first, in accordance with Azula's typically genius-level tactics. Mai scanned the area, ready to let fly with her knives and projectiles at the first sign of trouble that meant harm to her. (Other forms of trouble were only being attacked on an as-needed basis.) The marina itself was as visually impressive as everything else Ba Sing Se actually put effort into. What had once been beautiful yachts and junks were parked (or whatever word they used for boats, 'docked,' probably) along wooden piers and still tied securely, but most of the ships themselves had a run-down look to them that bespoke abandonment to the weather. The Fire Nation battleship was nestled against a dock right in the center of the ship collection, and Mai could see the shattered remnants of that specific berth's previous occupant littered along the ground. Mai bet that the warship had simply plowed into the smaller wooden vessel without concern.
She supposed that would make a good metaphor for something, but didn't really bother thinking about it. She was too busy looking for Zuko. In addition to the docks, the marina boasted a number of buildings, ranging from maintenance sheds to what looked like an Upper Ring-quality spa and restaurant with a mural on its front. The painting depicted elaborately robed sailors waving to mermaids from their ships. (The Dai Li shirts that the mermaids were wearing looked to Mai to have been painted much more recently than the rest of the picture.) Zuko could be hiding in any one of the structures, not to mention the Dai Li agents who were supposed to be ambushing him.
Azula couldn't have arranged it any better.
Mai signaled to Ty Lee, who in turn waved happily back at their carriage. Azula dragged Sokka out, while the other carriages disgorged a half squad of Firebender soldiers, the only ones who would be returning to the Fire Nation with their Princess. The whole group assembled into a formation with Azula in front and Mai bringing up the rear, and began marching to the ship.
They were only a quarter of the way there when Zuko made his appearance.
He went unnoticed by everyone but Mai when he stood up from the restaurant's roof, apparently having been hiding in or around one of several chimneys. She spotted something hanging from his back, and as he began running for the roof's edge, she could see that it was a dao blade in scabbard. Running out of roof, Zuko made a leap that took him down to land on the path between his sister and the warship. He probably landed hard, but kept his feet and took a solid Firebender stance. He pointed at the princess and bellowed, "Azula! This ends now. I challenge you to an Agni Kai!"
Mai rolled her eyes. An Agni Kai? Now he wasn't even trying. Azula in turn gave an artificial chuckle and said, "Really, Zuzu, must you always be so dramatic? Regardless, my answer is no. Mai, Ty Lee, soldiers, take him prisoner, if you can, but I'll settle for a recognizable trophy for Father." Then the Princess grabbed Sokka by wrapping an arm around his neck and held him tight against her body.
Well, this wasn't going as hoped for at all. Mai stepped around the Princess and began lining up vectors while Ty Lee and the Firebenders ran to close the range on Zuko.
Sokka was worried when he was first grabbed that Azula would get a little too touchy and feel Mai's knives under his clothes, but having his arms manacled behind his back provided a buffer between his body that maintained the deception. Hey, what do you know, Azula could be her own worst enemy, sometimes. "Wow," Sokka said in as casual a voice as he could managed in the awkward position. "And here I thought your brother was afraid of you, not the other way around. And by the way, I know you probably don't get a lot of practice, but this is not how hugs work. I could paint you a scroll with step by step instructions, if you want, but first you'll have to uncuff me."
"Oh, do shut up, it gets old quickly," Azula said. Her body was unpleasantly warm, even through her clothes and armor. "And it got old sometime yesterday."
Zuko had just began engaging the Firebenders, trading small bursts of flame that bounced off each other's defenses while Ty Lee hung back and looked for an opening, when Sokka suddenly heard the sound of sustained Firebending coming from behind him. Mai cried out in either pain or surprise, and Azula twisted- Sokka still held against her- to see Uncle General Iroh in a Firebending stance. Mai was on the ground, blinking, but didn't seem to be burned.
"Good morning, Azula," the old man said. "I hope you'll accept my warning that more is arrayed against you than you realize, and it would be best to stand down and negotiate with us for a peaceful resolution."
Azula huffed. "Mai, kill him."
Oh, sure, kill the Dragon of the West. At least Mai could now be sure just how confident Azula was in her fighting abilities. Mai dropped a razor disk into each hand and threw them at Iroh before she dashed out of her crouch and started circling him in a run. Iroh dodged both projectiles with just slight shifts of his weight, not even moving his feet, and gestured a wave of fire low to the ground along Mai's path. She jumped up with legs tucked beneath her and threw a stiletto as she flew through the air.
Iroh raised a hand and caught the blade midair between thumb and forefinger.
Oh, this was going to be fun. And by 'fun,' Mai meant that she was actually worried she was going to die.
While Mai kept Uncle General Iroh busy, Azula dragged Sokka along with her as she moved further up the path, towards where Zuko was fighting six soldiers at once with twin dao blades and Firebending. Sokka admittedly had to use a strong force of will to tear his attention off the pretty cool display to razz Azula some more. "You know, if I'm too much trouble here, I can walk on my own. Really, it wouldn't be an inconvenience."
"If you're not a hostage and no longer useful as bait," Azula said, "you're surplus to requirements and a liability."
"Okay, okay, just offering." Sokka couldn't do much- yet- but even distracting the Princess for a moment was a contribution. He hoped.
Scanning the battle, Azula said, "Speaking of usefulness..." She turned her head away from Sokka, put her free hand to her mouth, and let loose a whistle that felt like she was stabbing Sokka's ears with her fingernails.
From inside all the buildings around them, robed Dai Li agents emerged in fighting stances.
Azula shifted Sokka again so that she could face the bulk of her reinforcements and said, "Concentrate on my uncle! We'll have Zuko soon enough."
Then the Dai Li agent closest to Azula, who had come out of that neat-looking restaurant with the colorful art on its front, took off his hat and revealed the ugly bald visage of Long Feng. "We'll have you all soon enough, Princess Azula. Did you really think you could try to betray me and I wouldn't see through you simplistic plans?"
Azula's voice came in a mocking tone behind Sokka's ear. "I hoping that you were smart, but I wasn't relying on it, no." Then she shoved Sokka hard right in Long Feng's direction, and it felt distinctly like his flying upper body was dragging his feet along it. Long Feng actually caught Sokka as he collided against him, then spun and pushed the Water Tribe warrior off to the side to skid to the ground.
Sokka resisted the urge to sigh and began trying to get back to his feet. It was going to be one of those battles.
Mai was getting the distinct impression that she was losing her battle against Iroh. He wasn't pressing his attacks against her, merely using his flames to break up her own attack patterns and keep her from building up any fighting momentum, but nearly every step he took brought him closer to her. She was trying to keep her distance, because she had only one optimal range in her fighting style, but the marina buildings were boxing her in to a degree, and the retired general (who Azula always referred to as an old fuddy duddy, but Mai noticed how she wasn't here fighting the guy) seemed to be taking that into account. He got steadily closer, and if he got into hand-to-hand range, Mai had no doubts that the fight would be over in short order.
At least he seemed to be intent on taking her alive, otherwise he would have set her hair on fire by now.
Then the ground beneath Mai's feet took on a life of its own and flung her into the air. Her gifted, precise eyes scanned around as she flew, and settled on a team of Dai Li agents who seemed to have joined the fight against both sides and were attacking Iroh as well.
Well, that was unexpected.
Then the ground was coming up, and Mai twisted so that she landed in a roll. Coming out of it, she settled into a crouch and let loose a flurry of small blades that pinned the robes of the Dai Li agent who had targeted her against the wall of the small maintenance shed he was next to.
Finally, something she could beat.
She went into her special 'dance,' the Ten Thousand Flying Knives Shuffle, every single movement of her body unleashing another wave of projectiles against her enemies. It wasn't a real dance, like they did in the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation colonies, but Mai liked it all the better for that. This was the true purpose of grace and movement. This was how she was comfortable interacting with the world. If only she could have been wearing her Fire Nation robes, she could have had access to even more weapons and really shown the Dai Li creeper-spies a thing or two about full-on combat.
Another Dai Li agent dropped before her, and Mai suddenly found herself face-to-face with Iroh. He reached out to poke her lightly, and that was just enough force and direction to throw her off her dance and completely unbalance her. She tumbled to the ground and landed hard on her backside.
Iroh smiled and said, "My apologies, but I need a chance to talk to you. I don't suppose I can convince you to stand down?"
Mai kept herself from making any sudden movements. For now. "I don't suppose I can convince you to take Zuko and get out of here. Go where Azula won't find you."
Iroh gave her an arch expression. "If I could do that, do you think we would be caught up in any of this?"
That was a very good point, actually.
Okay, so Sokka had a few choices here. None of them were good, but he was already used to that. He had taken advantage of Azula and Long Feng's Epic Duel of the Fates to scrunch up on the ground and pass his cuffed wrists under his body so that his arms were back in front of him where the belonged (and all this running around and not getting proper meals lately had actually turned out to be a good thing, because Sokka doubted he would have been able to do that move as easily if his butt wasn't quite as bony as it was right now), but he was still cuffed, and stuck in an enemy battlefield.
There seemed to be three main attractions to this mess of a confrontation- Mai versus Iroh versus Dai Li, Zuko versus Ty Lee versus Dai Li (heh, that rhymed) versus Firebenders, and Azula versus Long Feng. Might as well stick to where things weren't already over-crowded. Sokka got to his feet, and looked to where Azula and Long Feng traded attacks, blue fire splashing against rock walls that became flying rocks that were kicked apart by flaming metal boots and went round and round again.
Then he charged and tackled Azula to the ground while she was distracted. She struggled against him, and Sokka struggled against her in turn, until a shadow eclipsed the sun above them. They both flung themselves away from each other just as a large boulder slammed flat into the ground where they had been, and Sokka came up in a stumbling run. The only problem was that he had picked the absolutely worst direction that could have been available to him, and Long Feng loomed large right in front of him. The Dai Li director made a quick movement of his feet, and a cluster of rocks popped out of the ground to bop Sokka right in his chin.
He went down, saw stars, and could only hope that he would still be alive in a few minutes.
Judging from the sounds of continued Earthbending and Firebending, maybe it wasn't that unreasonable a wish after all.
Mai's negotiations with Iroh hadn't progressed at all, and he was still keeping a close eye on her hands. She was finding the situation unreasonably frustrating. Iroh continued his argument, saying, "And I'm sure that both Zuko and Sokka would be willing to vouch for you with the Avatar, so he would have to accept your help, and-"
Mai broke in with, "Who says I even want to join the Avatar? Helping one or two people is one thing, but I'm still a part of the Fire Nation. I don't want to destroy it."
Iroh smiled gently. "I remember a little girl who used to play with Azula, and sometimes Zuko, who found the trappings of her life so distasteful that she tried to stop feeling anything at all. This proper but dour girl even seemed to understand when her best friend sometimes talked of fleeing it all to join the circus. Do you think you can fix what's wrong with our nation, while still supporting the war and leadership that have thrown it so out of balance? I love my nation no less than you do. Perhaps more. I had to make hard decisions recently about how to save what I love, decisions that have me now fighting old friends." He offered her his hand. "What kind of decisions have you been making, lately?"
Mai blinked. "I..." Iroh's hand beckoned for her own, but the possibilities it offered loomed too large.
Then the ground under the entire marina rumbled, and people in green armor and green clothes and green everything began streaming out of irising holes in the ground.
Iroh sighed. "I was hoping to save you before they arrived."
Sokka was back on his hands and knees when the Resistance showed up. At first he thought he had taken a few too many blows to the head over the last few days, but the looks of panic that Azula and Long Feng traded convinced him that this was the real deal. He resisted the urge to chuckle and gloat; Azula might just slap him again before she was taken out.
"Princess Azula," Long Feng said.
"Yes?"
"Perhaps it is time to put personal grudges behind us and unite against mutual enemies."
Azula nodded. "We can always kill one another later."
"My sentiments exactly."
"My first suggestion for our new alliance is a tactical retreat."
"Oh, good," Long Feng said. Then he and the princess broke into a run.
A run that took them in Sokka's direction.
He tried to clamber out of the way, but Azula grabbed the chain that linked his wrist-cuffs and yanked him along with her. He landed into a stumbling run that he couldn't stop, dragged along in the direction of the Fire Nation warship. They dashed past Dai Li agents and Earthbenders, some of whom immediately joined in their wake, but some of the really stupid ones turned to attack the Resistance fighters.
Sokka tried to twist and exert control of his legs, but Azula gave another yank of his chain and kept him in his controlled forward-fall. This brought them right up to the metal warship, and as Azula half dragged, half led him up the gangplank she shouted, "Launch! Launch launch launch!"
Sokka was finally allowed to finish falling once he was fully aboard the warship, and collapsed in a heap next to another body. Groaning, he looked, and saw Zuko's limp form sprawled out on the metal deck. Zuko stared back with his typically lopsided scowl, but his limbs were those of a dead man's. Ty Lee stood over him.
Great. You know, it wasn't so bad when Sokka was the only prisoner, but now this was just getting ridiculous.
Mai could only watch, surrounded by Earthbenders, as the warship chugged out into the bay. Its chimney belched smoke and the machinery rumbled loudly, testament to how hard the engines were being pushed. The helmsman must have been a good hand, because the ship swung expertly without even nudging the various yachts and junks, finishing in direct line with open waters. A few Resistance members lobbed rocks or shot arrows at the fleeing ship, but only the first few even hit anything, bouncing off the metal hull, while the rest sank straight into the water.
It was only then that Mai realized she had been abandoned.
Iroh caught her look of surprise and said, "We all must make hard choices in tough times."
TO BE CONTINUED