A/N: Many thanks once again for the reviews. You guys make it all worthwhile.
"Yeah, we figured that out a while ago." Said Sokka. Toph shook her head, this was very, incredibly serious. She knew this city was bad news. They needed to get out while they still had their minds.
"No, I mean we need to get out. We need to find Appa and get out." Said Toph with utter seriousness. She did a cursory glance with her feet. Dai Li were coming; who else would be earth bending along the roof tops.
"We need to warn the Earth King." Said Katara. They couldn't just leave, they needed to use the eclipse to defeat the Fire Lord and stop the war.
"Good luck getting near the Earth King." Said Jin with a snort. Even in the lower rings people knew that nobody saw the Earth King. All he cared about was controlling the city and keeping order. Why else would he be having people who mentioned the war arrested.
"We have important information about the war!" said Katara with a cursory glance towards Zuko. He didn't seem to be himself and it didn't seem like an act. Why would some spoilt Prince purposefully be living as a commoner. He'd be in the upper ring with them or storming the wall with an army.
"Are you deaf or just stupid?" asked Jin through clenched teeth. Lee and this Jet jerk were brainwashed and she goes around screaming about the war. She was going to bring the wrath of the Dai Li onto them. She liked being Jin! She was going to get away from these people, track down Mushi, and find out how much of Lee was actually Lee.
"Excuse me?!" said Katara. Her hand was on her water skin and Jin too an earth bending attack position. Jin wasn't sure if this would work but she didn't know any proper air bender forms. Aang stood next to her to correct her. The only thing she was going to do like that was kick up a lot of dust and send herself flying into the air.
"Katara, maybe we shouldn't be mentioning the war. Jin, here stand like this." Said Aang showing her the proper form. She imitated him. He went through it and she followed. Sokka felt like hitting himself in the head with his boomerang. This wasn't the time for a bending lesson. Lee watched with undivided attention. It reminded him of a fire bending form he could almost remember.
"Let's find Appa now, bending lessons later!" said Sokka. Katara and Jin exchanged a glare. Then Katara glared at Lee and Lee glared at her. The water tribe boy glared at Katara and then Aaang glared at the water tribe boy. Jet looked confused and Smellerbee banged her head against the wall.
"Is something happening? Why aren't we looking for Appa? Like now. Right now." said an annoyed Toph. They needed to find Appa and get out of there before they lost their minds. She liked having her mind thank you very much.
"I've leave you all to your bison then. If you need to find us Jet and his friends know where we live. Good day." said Lee respectfully. Uncle Mushi had told him in no uncertain terms not to look for the Avatar's bison. He made himself very, very clear.
"Wait! Jin, you can't go!" said Aang. He couldn't let her leave, she was the only other air bender he knew.
"Find your bison and then we'll talk." Said Jin. They needed to get home. She needed to know exactly what was Lee and what…wasn't. Then she needed to help him remember who he was.
"No, I need to teach you air bending and then we can repopulate the air nomads!" said Aang. Everyone gave him a long look when he said that. Longshot seemed to be saying 'What's wrong with you?' why was everyone looking at him. He was a boy, she was a girl. Could it be any more obvious? They needed to recreate the Spring Festival, then she'd get really fat, and in the fall a baby would come.
"This is my almost wife, we're almost married. Do you understand?" Said Lee. No one was going to talk to or about Jin like that. Even if it was a twelve year old boy who was also the Avatar. He was the Avatar, he could have whatever girl he wanted. When he got older though.
"First of all people can only have babies with people of the same nation and second of all what does marriage have to do with having babies. We can find some more air benders too since we're only two people." Said Aang. Toph wanted to sink into the ground. Sokka and Katara wanted to go with her. Jet and Smellerbee were holding in laughter. He obviously didn't understand the implications of what he was saying.
"Who told you that?" laughed Lee. He was and Jin were living testaments to the fact that people could and did mix.
"Monk Gyatso, my teacher." Said Aang. Now Sokka was actually hitting himself in the head with his boomerang. This was painful.
"Well, he was wrong. If people can be intimate they can have babies. Babies which you will not be having with my wife." Said Lee. Aang admitted he didn't know exactly how it worked but he knew what monk Gyatso had told him. Besides, Zuko was brainwashed and crazy. What would he know?
"Let's discuss this another time." said Jin turning to leave she togged on Lee's sleeve and he followed her. He wasn't in the mood to argue the nuances of human reproduction with a child. The Avatar was calling after them.
"Jin, Wait! You can help us find Appa!" said Aang. Lee shook his head. Uncle Mushi had been very firm on the subject of the bison. Jin didn't want to help these crazy people. She wanted to learn air bending beyond push and pull air but that wasn't worth getting into trouble with the city guard or the Dai Li.
"Number one; I'm not getting involved with the Dai Li. Number two; I'm untrained and you're a master. Which one of us would be more help and which one would be a hindrance?" said Jin with her hands on her hips. Not mention the fact that she didn't want to forget who she was like Swepy or this Jet jerk. Well, he seemed to know who he was but according to his friends something was wrong with him. They had already gotten to Lee too. Maybe they got to her too and she just didn't know it.
"Just let her go, Aang." Said the crazy water tribe girl. She looked at her and Lee with apprehension. Lee was tugging on her to get her to come with him. He didn't want to bring the wrath of the city guard onto them. He had to live peacefully within the city.
"No, she could help!" said the Avatar. The little earth bender girl moved the ground under all her friends away from him and Jin.
"Breezy has a point, Twinkletoes. She's untrained and doesn't even want to help. What good could she do? We've got to get Appa and warn the Earth King then we can deal with her." said Toph. They had enough on their plates now, why was he trying to make it worse?
"Fine. When this is over we'll meet you and Zu-Lee at Pao's tea shop in the lower ring." Said Aang with a respectful bow. Jin did the same and Lee followed suit. Good, now things were coming together. Lee and Jin walked home and Aang looked on sadly. Letting her go was like letting a part of himself go. Almost like being away from Katara.
"That was crazy." Said Jin as they went home. Lee nodded in agreement. He really wanted to meet the Avatar and he did, just not in the best way. He had to be more specific with his wants in the future. He hadn't wanted to brawl in the streets.
"It's over now. He's going to teach you and we're not getting involved in their problems." Said Lee. He was glad they were going home. They had to get back to living peacefully. Always peacefully. There was no war in Ba Sing Se. Jin gave him a long look.
"Lee…have you ever been arrested?" asked Jin. Lee shook his head. He wasn't some kind of criminal or anything. Sometimes he dreamt he was being arrested and there was a spinning light of some kind and a soothing voice. Those were just dreams.
"Not that I remember. Sometimes I dream I'm being arrested and there a spinning light but that's not possible. I live peacefully within the city." said Lee. Jin's blood turned to ice in her veins. Lee…Oh Lee. There was still the possibility that it was a dream. She'd have to talk to Uncle Mushi…and then maybe get out of the city. At least out there they didn't mind bend you.
"Do you ever think that maybe it couldn't be a dream?" asked Jin innocently. Lee shook his head. Why would he be arrested? He didn't do anything wrong.
"I've never done anything to warrant being arrested. Not like Jet" Said Lee. Jin but back her retort. He was a fire bender in an earth kingdom city. He could have been an army deserter or a captured soldier. He didn't look like a soldier. He looked more like a noble than anything.
"Alright, I just worry sometimes." Said Jin. She didn't want to push it. Not here out in the streets. She was going to get to the bottom of this somehow. If her worst suspicions were confirmed then she'd take them all out of the city. She knew that the man was the head of the household, at least in the earth kingdom, but sometimes the woman had to be the body and move the head in the right direction.
"You don't have too. We have a good life here. We have jobs, Uncle Mushi supports our relationship, and the Avatar himself is going to teach you air bending. True I'm not sure if I like him and I don't like the company he keeps but he's a master air bender. Even if there are air bender clans hiding all over the world like Uncle Mushi said they obviously don't want to be found." Said Lee
"Well, alright. If you think so then it's alright." Said Jin as they reached his, no their, building. They had enough excitement for one day. She wanted to help him but didn't know where to begin. She didn't even know if what they had done to him was that bad. Uncle Mushi seemed like the kind of person who would try and have his nephew fixed if he was dramatically different. Unless he was smart enough to stay away from the Dai Li. Or mindbent himself. He did have an unusual obsession with tea that went a bit beyond pride for his craft.
"Uncle Mushi, we're home!" called Lee into the empty apartment. He must be with is Pai Sho friends. That game was slow and took forever; truly a game for the old.
"I guess we're alone." Said Jin. Lee turned an amusing shade of red. Jin then realized how that sounded and wanted to take it back. Or maybe she didn't. Or maybe she knew she should didn't want to. Or maybe-Lee's kiss broke her from her thoughts. She kissed him back. Well, this was nice. Lee didn't know what to do. She was silent with an odd look on her face for a good two minutes. She must have been waiting for…something. Well, he had a good idea of what. It wasn't that he didn't want to it was that there was so much that could go wrong. And he wasn't sure if he wanted children. And he could hear Uncle Mushi's voice in his head alternating between lecturing him about thinking things through and waxing poetic about his own exploits. Maybe there was something wrong with his head too. He told his thoughts to shut up and led Jin to her bedroll. Eventually they lost track of the time and didn't hear Uncle Mushi coming home.
"It could be worse. It could be much worse." Said Iroh to himself as he made his way home. He loved his nephew like a second son, anyone with eyes could see that, but his nephew put him through a lot. He'd stick with Zuko no matter what and there had been a lot of what f the years. Things could have been much worse…somehow. There was the right way, the wrong way, and the Zuko way which was also the needlessly complicated and difficult way. He wanted his nephew to stop hunting the Avatar and make a life for himself and he did…as Lee. He wouldn't have gotten captured by the Dai Li if he hadn't over heard some refugees talking about the Avatar working with the Kyoshi warriors and helping deliver a baby in the Serpent's pass. It was so crazy it could only be true. Zuko had snuck out looking for the Avatar and come back the next day as Lee. Iroh wanted to kill the person that did this to his nephew but luckily it could be reversed in most cases. He was only tampered with once; it wasn't kept up with like the Joo-Dee's.
"Lee!" came Jin's voice through the door. Iroh…didn't know how to feel. There was the father in him that wanted to throttle Zuko. There was the other part of the father in him that was glad that his almost son was finding happiness. There was the part of him that wanted the air nomad race to continue in some form and the other part that said that Zuko was too young to have children. Not to mention that they didn't want anything else hurting his nephew's chance of being Fire Lord. The brainwashing could be fixed, hopefully. The fact that Jin was an air bender may work in their favor. Children on the other hand may not. And knowing Zuko Jin would probably have earth bending triplets or the next Avatar or something. Iroh made some noise to make his presence known. It was in everyone's best interest that nothing came of that. They didn't hear him so for the greater good of everyone he did what he had to do. No amount of mind healing would ever make this better. Through the resulting debacle nobody noticed the commotion making its way down from the upper ring.