Chapter 10
Wild Turkey-Goose Chase
The plan was set. The group was to go to the temple of the lion-dog and sneak Tikaani out. However, when Aang asked a mason where the Temple of the Lion-dog was, he found out that Ba Sing Se had thirteen temples named "Temple of the Lion-dog".
Aang groaned and rubbed his forehead. Somehow this was Aningan's plan, to have Aang run around Ba Sing Se for entire day looking for the right temple. Zuko had his arms crossed and leaned against post, looking at Aang with a 'now what?' expression.
"I guess we need to split up and explore each one." said Sokka, trying to think of something to do. Zuko was impatient,
"Yeah, but that would take too long. By the time we find him, Tikaani will probably be dead. We need to narrow down the selection. My thinking is that they would be in a temple that is in pirate territory."
Katara seemed skeptical,
"And how do we find out about the pirate territories?" she asked. Zuko was about to shrug when Sokka had an idea,
"Well, that's easy. We'll go to the docks and act like pirates!"
Everyone looked at Sokka like he had grown mutated antlers. Then Aang shrugged.
"Well, I guess that might work. Katara and Zuko go around the lower ring and see if you can ask any questions about the temples there. Sokka, Toph, and I are going to the docks...and will probably make complete asses out of ourselves."
Toph had a big grin,
"Now that's something that comes easy to you, Twinkletoes."
Light filtered through the temple walls as the sun emerged. Tikaani had spent all night mapping every wall, memorizing everything. He also spent all night trying to unscrew the hinges, but he had no luck. He didn't sleep, he just watched everything with wide and fearful eyes.
With the sunlight illuminating the old temple, Tikaani registered a lot. First it wasn't a temple so much as small room with an altar and several idols to local gods and spirits. There was cot in the corner with a lamp, and the walls had tapestries and paintings. One of which that Tikaani recognized as the ice carving in the Hall, the one with the goddess La and the wolf by her.
Should I pray to La, should I pray to the moon to help me? Auntie told me I was blessed under the name of the ocean god. I was anointed in his name. Auntie told me that my name however was tribute to La. Tikaani means Wolf. The wolf is a friend to La and her messenger. Will she listen to this wolf?
Tikaani swayed side to side, and his eyes were half lidded as he started to sing. It wasn't a lyrical song but one of tones. It was Tikaani mimicking the sounds of the ocean rushing across the shore, the sound of the waves crashing and all of the animal's voices harmonizing with the frozen north. Tikaani rocked and flapped his hands, his voice slowly getting louder as he made the noises of the ocean. Tikaani slowly disconnected himself from the world that he was in and closed his eyes as he continued his wordless chant. Slowly, he felt himself remember. He clung unto that feeling, that memory of times before. Singing his song, he wasn't in the cage anymore.
I am at the shore again, behind my house. I see the ocean before me, big and blue. I hear the sound of the turtle seals and the waves. I smell the salt and taste the brine. I feel the wind ruffling my parka. I am home, but just for a little bit.
Walking along the rocks and sand I am looking for clams. I love to eat them fresh and I love it when Auntie cooks them with seaweed. So I will hunt clams for dinner tonight. Smiling, I look forward to Amana waterbending some tricks, and Rahmet chanting. I want to see my cousins and join in their games. I climb on top of a old limestone shelf and look about at the endless glaciers and cliffs.
I've always know that I am more than observer, I am a participant in my own destiny. Yet…yet, I feel that my own destiny is not always in my control. Sometimes I really am a pawn of fate. Maybe the Avatar is my fate, maybe the reason I am here is to help the Avatar? Perhaps he needs to see the world from another pair of eyes. From a pair that knows stigma and segregation. From ones that have witnessed compassion and courage. I need to be brave, and I need to stand strong and not let my own disability hinder me. I have weaknesses, but I also have strengths. I need to be brave, like Toph said. I want to be strong like Toph. I will ride the waves of fate and stay strong like her.
Tikaani felt himself jerked to one side as the cage was tipped over by a bunch of dingy looking men. Tikaani yelped as he was forced out of his trance. They rattled the cage, shaking Tikaani around as he was thrown to one side and another. Heart racing, Tikaani watched as a few of the men threw stones through the bars.
"Haha! Dance, Water Tribe monkey! Dance!" Tikaani jumped away and curled up in the corner, talking to himself and nursing his wounded hand that had started to bleed again. A deep voice came from the shadows.
"Aningan would be pissed as fuck, if you fucked up his sacrifice." said a man with mohawk and ritual scars on his arms. He looked ominous and proud, like a bear.
It was no surprise to Tikaani when they said,
"Hey we're not doing too much damage, Zong Xiong. Besides, Aningan said he's an idiot or brain damaged, so it's not like he can feel anything." said one man who had his septum pierced.
Zong Xiong, how fitting to be named Brown Bear.
Zong didn't seem to be pleased by this. He looked at Tikaani in the eyes and frowned.
"He's far from an idiot. He is intelligent, just quiet. My brother was just like him. He didn't talk at all and just kept to himself, but damn could he do puzzles."
The Septum Pierced rolled his eyes as everyone else backed away from Tikaani's cage.
"Sounds like you're going soft."
Zong didn't say anything and simply walked away. Septum Pierced just grinned wickedly at Tikaani as he took off and left him alone.
Aang, Toph and Sokka had managed to turn their clothes into something resembling those of mangy pirates which was no small feat, except for Toph, who just had to add more dirt to everything. Aang strolled jauntily into a seedy portion of the wharf that led into Half Moon Bay. There were a lot of questionable characters that seem to glare at the three 'pirates' that were wandering into their territory. One with half an arm missing approached them with a questioning eye.
"So, who the hell are you?" He asked the three, with one hand akimbo. Aang whispered to Sokka and Toph.
"Let me take care of this..." He tried to look fierce and like a vicious son of the sea as he adjusted his turban and swaggered up to the half-armed man. "Arrr! We be fierce men of the great ocean, we be wantin' to know who owns these lands. Arrr!" Aang said in his best pirate voice. Half-Arm lifted a pierced eyebrow and said,
"Hei Yongs, really. The Bo Fengs or Feng Bos...whichever you prefer. They come around here too, but not that often. So it's mostly their buddies the Hei Yongs. You looking for The Shark?"
Aang blinked, realizing that didn't have to over-dramatize.
"Umm...well no. We're looking to see if there are any Temples of the Lion-dog around this area."
Half-Arm lifted both eyebrows.
"Oooooh, I see. We have about four that are run by Hei Yongs. One has a lovely service on the holy days, another kinda became an orphanage for the victims of the Great War, and one is a brothel, but they do have wonderful clam-bakes on Sundays. Those are mostly for donations though."
Toph knitted her brows and she said, in a deadpan tone,
"Wow. A whorehouse that has clam-bakes. We should totally stop there." Aang rolled his eyes, when Sokka approached Half-Arm,
"That's three. Where is the other one?"
Half-Arm shrugged,
"Unfortunately that one was destroyed when the coup happened. All that remains is rubble."
Aang frowned, and after hearing that, he grunted and turned around, suddenly feeling a sense of oddness.
"Never expected friendly pirates." he said to Sokka, while Half-Arm waved his good hand: the other half of his right arm.
"Oh no, I am not really a pirate. More like uh… privateer. My uncle lives on Kiyoshi Island, he's a huge fan of you, Avatar so I am more than willing to help you out." He said, smiling. Aang was baffled, and he looked at Toph and Sokka with a confused expression.
"How-how did you know?" Aang said, worried that they had stepped into a trap. Half-Arm laughed and pointed to his turban.
"Your arrow is showing, Avatar. It was a giveaway."
Aang adjusted the turban worriedly and then sheepishly started to turn away.
"Good Luck! I hope you find what you are looking for!" Half-Arm called out.
Aang gave him a thumbs up and began heading back.
"Well...that was weird." He said to Toph.
Meanwhile, Katara and Zuko were running around the mid and upper rings getting nowhere. The day was running out quickly, and neither had found which temple Aningan resided it, even though they had explored several of them.
"This is hopeless. We've looked at several areas, but none are helpful. It's like we're running around in circles." Zuko said, throwing up his arms.
Katara agreed, but she didn't want to give up. Tikaani's life was in jeopardy and she had to do something. She didn't want to think about the kind of pain that Tikaani was in…if he was even alive. She bit her lip, feeling a sense of dread as they headed to the meeting place where Aang and others where. She didn't want to waste much time.
Aang called out to Katara, running up to her while taking off his turban-hat.
"Found anything out?" He asked Katara and Zuko as Sokka glanced at a sun-dial and made a face.
"Ugh, it's already passed meridian! It's winter, so moonrise is in five hours."
Nobody wanted to hear that.
Aang was getting frustrated and stomped the ground, making the earth jerk under everyone's face.
"No. We've checked about three temples: one is still working but the other two have been demolished." Katara said, her voice sounding glum. Sokka sighed and rubbed his chin, thinking, his eyes looking down on the earth.
"Maybe. Maybe we're reading it too literally. "Lion-dog" is another word for a "Fu-Dog" or a guardian lion. What is associated with guard lions? Maybe if we look at that angle it could save us some time instead of forcing us to look at every shrine."
Toph nodded with a hopeful smile on her face,
"Brilliant! Does anyone know what would have guard lions or-"
Zuko snarled and glowered at Sokka.
"That's every temple here! Every temple has guard lions! You just expanded our search." Zuko threw his arms up and growled to everyone else.
"This is ridiculous! It's a trick. Everyone knows that Aniagan is trying to keep us busy by looking at every other place and waste time. I say we bide out time and wait for moonrise, Tikaani is just bait we ca-" He was stopped when Toph roared at him in anger.
"DON'T YOU DARE! He isn't a lost cause! He's waiting for us and I am not going to give up on him. We can't!" Toph said fiercely, her sightless eyes glaring at Zuko who made a squeak of shock and put his hands up.
"I am just saying that it could be a trick: he could be waiting for us at some other place where he doesn't have Tikaani. If we go after him, Tikaani could be someplace else. Toph, I don't want to give up on him either, I care about him too."
Toph continued to glare at him, then frowned and leaned on a post, silent and brooding.
Suddenly, Sokka looked like he had figured something out. His grin widened as he exclaimed,
"That's it! Tikaani isn't at the temple of lion-dog, it was a rouse! Aningan mentioned something about being a gift to Amaguq, that's the water tribe wolf spirit that protects warriors and chiefs. But, he's also a trickster. He's in the Ancestral Temple, statues of warrior gods, including Amaguq's, will be there. Lucky for us, there's only one in Ba Sing Se. It's inside the outer ring,facing west, I've seen its tower."
Katara hugged Sokka and, with huge grin on her face, said,
"You're a genius! C'mon we don't have a second to lose, we need to get there!"
Aang grabbed his staff, but Zuko decided to rain on their party.
"Uh guys, we don't know if Sokka is right…it's a good lead though. But where would Aningan be?" Zuko said doubtfully, but Sokka was on top of that.
"He would be in the Shrine of the Lion-Turtle. It has Fu Dogs guarding the four compass points. The locals call it the 'lion-dog temple,' because all the fu-dog statues. There is no 'temple of the lion-dog' there, because it's been destroyed! It was a dead end! So I just looked at from a different angle. It was just a trick to get us all to waste time." Sokka explained.
Aang unfolded his staff and looked at Sokka and Katara.
"You go and find Tulok. We have less than five hours get him to the Shrine of the Lion Turtle. Zuko, Toph, and I are going to go the Ancestral Temple to rescue Tikaani."
Aang flew in one direction with Toph and Zuko trailing him. Katara and Sokka rushed to go find Tulok. Their time was getting shorter and shorter.
Tikaani shivered in the corner as he realized that it was getting colder. He breathed out a cloud of steam and leaned against the metal, shivering. He was just feeling the cold after being stuck in the cage for over eighteen hours, which was mostly because of his hypo-sensitivity .
His eyes grew heavy as the pirates crept in the open doors holding what looked like blanket and some food. Tikaani made a growling noise and felt his stomach moan in anticipation. He was cold and hungry and he could feel it. Septum-Pierced had the bread and held it near the bars. Tikaani reached for it, but Septum-Pierced yanked away getting guffaws from his lackeys. He put it out again and Tikaani reached for it, and then, unsurprisingly, Septum-Pierced pulled it away. Tikaani saw that was game and curled up, ignoring the jeers, rocking back and forth singing his ocean song.
Septum-Pierced called for him over and over but Tikaani disconnected from everyone and withdrew into his world. The pirates rattled the cage, knocking Tikaani around. Tikaani tried to hold his balance but he was falling over as the men shook the bars. One reached in and tried to grab Tikaani's leg but Tikaani bared his teeth and bit the man's arm. The one that tried to grab him howled in pain, as he smashed Tikaani against the bars, screaming to let him go. Tikaani hung on by his teeth, breaking the skin. But after one more head slam, Tikaani let go, his nose streaming with blood and his left eye blackened. Bitten Arm cradled his wounded limb and glared at Tikaani, who was grinning in the corner.
"What fuck are you smiling at? You little freak!" He roared at the smiling boy, ignoring the fact that people were throwing stones at him. His voice low and blue eyes smiling, Tikaani replied.
"Wolves bite."
Aang landed a block away from the Ancestral Temple, noticing that the sun was getting low in the sky and his heart hammered realizing that he was far from the bustle of the lower ring and was now near the outer ring. He saw the huge tower rising above the hill as the other two ran behind them. Aang looked at the white obelisk ahead, sighing and feeling a wave of anxiousness hit him, hoping that Sokka was right.
"The sun is getting low; it's a few hours until moon rise. We need to get Tikaani and go." Zuko said, gasping for breath.
Toph leapt down from her rock surfing and had a grave expression on her face. She didn't know if Tikaani was still in that temple, but her gut told her that she had to find out.
"C'mon, we've caught our breaths. Let's get going."
Tikaani was asleep when door slammed open. Itigiaq stormed in with Aningan behind him.
"Damn it! The Avatar is on our tail, all you bitches need to get your asses going and keep them away from the area. I need to transport our offering." Aningan ordered as he took his keys and opened the door of the cage.
Stepping in, he saw Tikaani staring outside, focusing on a window. He put a collar around the boy and was about to tie his arms to it when Tikaani jerked awake slamming his knee into Aningan's groin, thrashing about and running out of the cage.
"SHIT! GET HIM." howled Aningan.
Itigiaq bent the water on the floor into ice, causing Tikaani to lose balance, sliding and tripping. He fell on his side and Itigiag scooped him up, only to be bitten as Tikaani kicked and punched him.
"Little shit!" snarled Itigiaq, grabbing his hair and throwing him across the room.
Tikaani slammed into the wall. He groaned, showing that he was still alive, but his leg was definitely broken. Aningan chuckled as he limped over to the prone form in the dying sunlight.
"You have gotten brave. I like that." Aningan pulled him up by the neck and stared into Tikaani's eyes. "Wild and proud. Amaguq will love to feast on you." He bound up Tikaani, who was shivering and shaking. He whimpered as tried to stand on his fractured leg.
"Now to the pinnacle you go."
Katara and Sokka found Tulok and ran with him to the Ancestral Temple. Sokka was shouting after them, confused on this change of direction.
"Shouldn't we be going to the Lion Turtle place?" He said hopping on train that would lean them to the outer ring. Katara looked at Tulok who had a grim face.
"No. He had fixation on this temple for years, and it will be where his offering is. He wanted to separate you guys."
Katara looked at the sun that was setting and her heart started to race.
"We don't have much time! The sun is setting."
Aang approached the looming white pillar head, the western sun behind it casting an ominous shadow upon the three who stood under it. Aang looked around the great courtyard and saw no sign of Aningan. Aang frowned when figures started to appear on the horizon. Zuko and Toph got into familiar stances.
"Looks like we got the welcoming party."
The pirates wasted no time on posturing and throwing insults. They unleashed a wave of earthbending at Zuko, who countered with a blast of fire. Aang evaded the attacks with airbending, dancing left and right, leaping over boulders and fire balls. He ran inside the temple, only to realize that it was empty.
Gray eyes searched for any sign of Tikaani, only to find that cage was empty. Frowning with grim determination, he ran upstairs.
AN We're at the final chapters....