I believe this is the longest chapter of the fic so far. Just saying...
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar
"Avatar, please reconsider," Chao said respectively, "Your presence will comfort the people of this city. I'm not asking you to take part in the execution; all I'm asking is for you to be there."
Aang scowled, it was early in the morning and Chao had decided to pay them a visit in Aang and Katara's room. Sokka, Suki, and Katara each kept themselves against one of the rooms walls as the Avatar and Mogdashu's leader argued.
"I don't support what you're doing here," Aang responded angrily at him, crossing his arms and leaning up against his bed, "I'm not going anywhere near this execution of yours. I'll find out whatever it is that is happening around here and why people are all of the sudden deciding to commit murder but I will not support any execution."
"It's called justice Avatar," Chao told him, stepping closer to Aang before the Avatar's voice stopped him.
"It's called murder," he corrected, "And if you want my help after you execute Shino then I need your word that there will be no more of it until we get to the bottom of this problem. I promise you, if you kill one more person, my friends and I will be out of here as quickly as we came."
Chao gazed at the Avatar before sighing and shaking his head, "I'm sorry you feel that way Avatar but this execution will happen. However, in the interest of solving this problem, we will hold off any other executions until we determine the cause of all of this," Chao begin to walk out of the doorway, "If you change your mind about coming, you know where to find us."
Aang shook his head in disgust as Chao left the room only to smile a little bit when Katara walked up and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"That's what I'm talking about," Sokka complimented, clapping his hands, "Way to stick up to him Aang."
"Thought you'd like it," Aang joked, "I'm surprised you kept quiet."
"Eh," Sokka shrugged, "I was going to join in but you seemed to have it under control. You don't know it but by standing up to that guy, you hurt his pride a little. Now he might be a little more considerate when dealing with us."
"Right," Katara agreed, "Not herding us around like he did yesterday. I can't believe he thought we would even want to watch the execution."
"You wouldn't say that if you're seeing what I'm seeing," Suki spoke up, looking out the window and seeing dozens of people walking down the streets towards the center of the city where the execution was going to take place.
Everyone joined her and look out the window as well.
"Man," Sokka shook his head, "These people must really like watching others kick the bucket."
Katara scowled and smacked him on the side of the head, "This isn't a joke Sokka! Somebody is about to be killed out there."
"Yeah, well there is nothing we can do about it if we want these people to let us help them," Aang stepped back from the window defeated, "We need to start investigating."
"Well where would we start?" Suki asked, turning her gaze at him, "All the evidence points to these people being guilty."
"But all of them are saying they are innocent," Katara pointed out, walking over to sit next to Aang, who had thrown himself onto the bed, "If that's true then that would mean either some outside force is making them do these things or they somehow simply forgot."
"Forgetting wouldn't explain why these people would commit any crimes though," Aang spoke up, "This town is supposed to be very peaceful."
"And look what all of this has reduced them to," Katara sighed, "They take pride now in killing one of their own just because of something that they think they did."
"And we need to put a stop to it, help this place get back to how it used to be," Aang said determinedly, thinking for a few seconds before speaking again, "We found that cave right before we found this place. In all of the times we have dealt with mysterious problems like this, a spirit of some sort has always been involved. I say we go back to the cave and see if we can find anything. I'm willing to bet a spirit that resides in there has something to do with it."
"Just like Hei Bai resided in that destroyed forest?" Katara questioned, receiving a nod of confirmation from Aang.
"Wait, hold on," Sokka held up his hands, "Maybe we should just asked around first once this execution passes. If there is a spirit around here, you'd think these people would know something about it."
"It beats going into some spirit cave that we know nothing about," Suki agreed, leaning against the wall next to the window she had been looking out of.
"Besides," Sokka continued, "Chao said he'll hold off any other executions. There is no need for us to rush this. We have time."
"Except that the longer we take on this, the more likely someone else will go crazy and do something," Katara reminded him.
"That's just a chance we have to take," Sokka replied, "We are this city's best chance at getting to the bottom of this and we aren't helping anyone by charging into some cave and getting ourselves hurt or worse."
"What do you think Aang?" Katara turned to her fiancé, deciding that he should have the final decision.
"Sokka has a point," Aang nodded to his future brother in law, who smiled triumphantly, "We should ask around first. We'll wait until this execution is finished with and once everyone goes back to their daily routine we'll split up and see what we can find out."
"And then we can all meet up later and compare notes," Sokka finished.
"We just need to find something to do until this stupid thing of theirs is over with," Katara leaned back on her hands.
"Well it shouldn't be long," Sokka grabbed Suki's hand and began to lead her out the door, "You and Aang just do what you normally do when you guys have some free time and Suki and I will do our own thing."
Katara raised an eyebrow as she watched her brother pull his girlfriend out of the room before turning to face Aang, who seemed in deep thought.
"You don't think Sokka knows exactly what it is that we've been doing do you?" Katara asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Spirits, I hope not," Aang sat up, "If he does then I don't think I'll need to worry about some cave spirit as much as I need to worry about him."
Katara just laughed before pulling him into a kiss. They didn't go much farther than that as what was going on outside in the middle of the city still lingered in their minds but the light kisses and cuddling was enough to pass the time for a couple of hours.
Tau looked out across the horizon of the ocean trying to find…well, whatever it was that he was supposed to be seeing. It was midday and Iroh had ordered the Captain of the ship to stop the boat and drop the anchor. Everyone had gathered on the deck of the ship and they were all doing the same thing he was doing, except for Iroh, who seemed to be waiting patiently for something.
"There's nothing out here," Tau shook his head, "What are we wasting time for?"
"Iroh knows what he's doing," Miyumi told him as she stood by his side, "Have a little faith."
"You're sure you don't know anything about this?" Tau questioned for what had to be the sixth time.
Miyumi was quiet for several moments before she hummed thoughtfully, "There's one thing that it might be."
"Well let's hear it," Tau said gently, giving her a curious smile. As with everything he said to her, it wasn't as much a demand as it was a request.
"I don't know exactly what it is," Miyumi elaborated, "But there was as rumor going around a few months ago that the higher ups had been working on something big. Only they and a select few workers actually knew about it. It's been kept secret all this time."
"You think that's about to change?" Tau asked.
"I don't know what else we could possibly be looking for all the way out here in the middle of the ocean," Miyumi responded, "My guess…its some giant ship that's probably more advanced than most since people from all the nations were pooling their resources to build it."
"Well what else besides a ship could possibly be here," Tau rose an eyebrow teasingly.
Miyumi just crossed her arms out rolled her eyes, "You're the one who asked what I thought it was."
"Maybe the Fei guy knows more," Tau speculated, "He's been hanging around Iroh a lot."
"Just to give you two your free space," a voice jutted in causing Tau and Miyumi to turn their head to see Fei joining them.
"And you're wrong about that," the firebender continued, "I am in the dark as much as you are."
Tau just huffed in irritation before walking off towards Iroh.
"Tau what are you…" Miyumi started before realizing that he didn't like being kept in the dark and that he was going to question the Grand Lotus. She quickly walked off after him, motioning Fei to follow her.
Iroh was leaning against the railing at the far side of the ship when he heard Tau walk quickly over to him.
"Okay grandpa," Tau spoke up, not really all that pleased, "I want some answers. Now!"
Iroh just smiled but never got the chance to respond as a slight rumbling suddenly filled the air. Tau hardly noticed Miyumi and Fei reaching them as everyone directed their gaze towards a spot on the ocean several dozen feet away where the ocean's surface began to bubble.
"What the…?" Fei spoke up in confusion as the bubbling began to intensify.
"You should be grateful Tau," Iroh finally spoke up, the rumbling off in the distance growing louder, "You're about to see something that only a few have…one of the greatest technological feats of our time."
"So the rumors were true then," Miyumi whispered, only loud enough for Tau to hear her.
Tau just hummed in agreement, keeping his attention on the violent looking bubbling that was going on before him.
Suddenly however, the bubbling and the rumbling stopped and silence filled the air. Tau could hear whispers of confusion coming from the crewmen before they were silenced by one of the most unexpected things the Tau had ever seen.
The water seemed to rise on its own and for a second Tau thought a huge wave had just miraculously appeared from nowhere but then the water subsided and fell back into the ocean. In its place was what looked to be the underside of a ship but at the same time it looked as if the object was right side up. Whatever this thing was, it only came about a few feet out of the water. Tau, along with Miyumi, Fei, and nearly everyone else, gasped in shock when they saw a women appear out from what must have been a hatch while she waved at them off in the distance.
"During the Day of Black Sun years ago," Iroh began, "The Avatar and his allies used prototype underwater ships that they called Submarine's. What you are seeing now is the combined efforts from people of all nation working together to perfect that design. What is visible now is only a fraction of what lies beneath the surface.
"How? How is this possible?" Tau asked in disbelief.
"I'm sure its Captain would love to explain it in detail but to put it simply," Iroh explained, "It's almost identical to a larger version of the airships that the Fire Nation uses with a few extra additions to make sure it can move, and survive under water. For all intents and purposes, this is the newly established headquarters for the Order of the White Lotus."
"It's incredible," Miyumi said, astonished, "And we're going in that thing?"
Iroh nodded, "We gave it a name. It's called The Lotus."
"Too bad you didn't put as much thought into the name as you did to actually build it," Tau deadpanned.
"A lot of names were thrown around," Iroh told him, not fazed by the comment in the slightest, "But in the end we believed it was only right to call it what we are."
Tau had been so focused on what Iroh was saying he had hardly noticed that their small ship began to move closer to the newly revealed submarine. It was much larger up close, nearly three times longer than the small ship they were standing on and Tau couldn't even begin to guess how much of it was under the ocean's surface.
Tau looked to the submarine to see the woman on the top of it bend down and lift up what appeared to be a metal plank that had blended in with the rest of the sub's surface. The plank however had one side attached to the sub and instead of picking it up, the women turned it so that instead of being across the subs surface, it stretched across the dozen feet of space in between the sub and the small ship, creating a bridge for people to cross over.
"Well what do you say Tau?" Iroh asked, "Do you want to cross over, or have you had enough of this?"
"Are you kidding, this just keeps getting better," Tau smirked, moving towards the makeshift bridge that already had the ship's crew crossing over it to the submarine, "If you hadn't been so secretive I would have agreed to whatever it is that you want me to do by now."
"I thought you had already decided to join us," Miyumi stated falling into step beside him as they walked across to the sub.
"He doesn't need to know that," Tau whispered, well aware that Iroh and Fei were walking just a few feet behind them.
Once everyone was across and on the surface of the submarine, the women moved the makeshift bridge back to its original position before coming up to greet them. She looked like a late middle aged women. There were small wrinkles in her cheeks and grey strands of hair dulled her otherwise jet black hair. She seemed to have a certain strength about her that denied her age and Tau didn't doubt that she would be able to put up a good fight against most benders. She also had golden eyes, signaling that she was Fire Nation.
"Hello everyone…Grand Lotus Iroh," she bowed respectfully, "My name is Rayya and I am the Captain of The Lotus."
"They let a woman be the captain of this thing?" Tau leaned over to Miyumi to whisper to her, "Isn't there a rule about that?"
"The White Lotus doesn't do all the prejudice," Miyumi whispered back and grinned, "It's one of the things I like about it."
"Well I think I am beginning to see why you joined," Tau told her, keeping his voice low.
"Oh, it's only one of the reasons," Miyumi retorted before she and Tau turned their attention back to Rayya when she spoke up again.
"Crewmen," she addressed the people that had been working on the small ship they had used to get here, "You already have your assignment. Get to it."
Everyone instantly moved and seemed to have the general idea of how to get inside. They all climbed down inside the hatch that Rayya had come out of and Tau could only assume that it led to the rest of the submarine. Once they were all gone, Rayya addressed the now smaller group personally.
"Miyumi, Fei…Tau," her eyes fell on the Waterbender, "If you'd follow me I'll give you a small tour before directing you to where you need to go."
"I'll come along as well," Iroh told her, "Tau and I will be going to the same place anyway."
"Very well," Rayya nodded, "Please follow me."
Tau exchanged a quick glance with Miyumi, who seemed to trust this new Rayya person so he assumed that she knew her. If Miyumi trusted her then Tau assumed he had nothing to be suspicious about so he followed in step behind Miyumi as Rayya led them to the hatch. Just as Tau had predicted there was a ladder going down to what appeared to be a hallway.
Everyone went down one by one. Tau waited until he was the last one outside before he too joined the others down the small shaft, closing the hatch behind him. It was a tight fit and Tau felt surprisingly claustrophobic. It probably didn't help that everyone seemed to be climbing down the ladder as slow as they could manage. It seemed like several minutes but Tau finally finished climbing down the ladder to find himself in a surprisingly open hallway that didn't feel crammed at all.
The surface of the walls and floor were made out of metal, just like the airships, and candles held in glass bulbs that hung from the ceiling casted light throughout the hallway.
"Didn't expect it to be so roomy huh?" Miyumi asked him, coming up to this side.
"Not after going through that shaft, no," Tau answered.
"Some people practically live here," Rayya spoke up, "During the couple of years it took to build this, we were mindful of that and worked to make it seem as comfortable as possible."
"Which is good since we'll be staying here for a day or two," Iroh told Tau before turning to Rayya, "I believe you promised us a tour?"
"More of an explanation and a small show and tell," Rayya responded, "The Lotus is a little too big to show you everything with the amount of time we have. The other Grand Lotuses are already in the Command Center waiting to speak with Tau; it probably best that we don't keep them waiting for long."
Rayya paused, walking over to a small console in the wall that Tau recognized as something similar to the intercoms that the airships had.
"Shirik," Rayya spoke into it, "Begin preparation and you are authorized to descend as soon as you are ready."
It was a few seconds but another voice responded through the speaker, "Yes, ma'am. I'll get right on it."
Rayya smiled, satisfied, "Shirik is the pilot of The Lotus," she explained, turning her head to address Iroh, "We'll be submerging soon and then we'll make our way to our next destination. The other Grand Lotuses have already explained the rest of the situation to me."
"So much for me being the first one to see all of the Grand Lotuses at a time," Tau said to Miyumi, "Seems like things have changed recently."
"For the worst," Iroh jumped in, turning to Rayya, "We need to speak with the Grand Lotuses a soon as possible."
"Follow me," Rayya nodded, walking down the hallway and gesturing for the group to follow them.
"They must be pretty desperate about something if they are bringing them all together like this," Miyumi told Tau in response to his previous comment to her, "This has never happened before."
"Well a lot of things seem to be going on nowadays," Fei said, walking in the back of the group, "Something big is going on isn't it."
"You'll know everything by the end of the day," Iroh told them.
"Ahead of us is the subs bridge," Rayya spoke up, bringing all the focus to her as the group walked, "That's where Shirik is and where I am most of the time. The Lotus is comprised of three floors. The one we're on is mainly just what you already see. It leads to the bridge and the engine room in the very back of the sub. The engine rooms spans the entire three floors and as I have said before, this ship is built with a combination of the airship schematics and the prototype submarines used in the Day of Black Sun. We don't require any waterbenders to direct the ship; instead we have rotors that propel the ship through the water. The rotors can shift in direction in order to move the sub were we need it to go. They'll shift upwards if we need the sub to descend and downwards to make it ascend…you get the idea."
"It's not the most efficient method," Iroh jumped in, "But it was the only technological possible way to do it."
"Correct," Rayya agreed, "Unlike the prototype subs, submerging is not instant. It's a gradual decline."
"Not very practical in the middle of a battle," Tau noted, "What about weapons?"
"The Lotus wasn't built for combat," Rayya answered, "It's supposed to be nearly undetectable. However, should the situation arise, it is armed with about a dozen torpedoes."
The group came to the first flight of stairs and Rayya led them down it. It brought them to a hallway similar to the one that they had just been in except now there were dozens of doors throughout it. Tau saw another stairway right next to them on the opposite side of the hall and he assumed that led to the last floor.
"This is the crew deck," Rayya told them, "We have about four dozen workers running the sub. Six work on the ships bridge, two dozen for the engine room, a few cooks for the cafeteria, which you'll find at the end of the hall. The rest of the crew is simply here for maintenance.
She turned to Miyumi and Fei, "Iroh and Tau need to go alone from here; I'll lead you to your rooms."
"Tau will explain everything to you later," Iroh continued, before sparing Tau a glance, "That is if he agrees to help us."
"Don't worry though," Rayya added, "The rooms are very accommodating. Very similar to something you'd find in a nice hotel. Since some people live here we wanted them to be comfortable. So follow me and I'll show you to your rooms."
Miyumi glanced at Tau briefly before giving him a small wave as she followed Rayya and Fei down the halls. Tau waved back before Iroh cleared his throat, bringing the waterbenders attention back to him.
"Come with me Tau," Iroh told him, leading him down the next stairway, "And try to be respectful when you meet the others."
"I'll do my best," Tau rolled his eyes as they reached the third and final floor, "So what's down here?"
The hallway was noticeable shorter than the previous two had been so Tau assumed that not many came down here.
"Access to maintenance areas mostly," Iroh shrugged, leading Tau to a door at the end of the hall and nodding to it, "And then there is the Command Room which is where we're going."
"What? Is that you're guys secret little meeting room," Tau joked sarcastically.
"It's actually not far from that," Iroh told him, opening the door.
They walked in and Tau was surprised to see the room seemed to be empty. It was a small dimply lit room with what appeared to be a table in the center of it. Tau walked up to the lone piece of furniture to find that it had a map of the world lying on top of it. Furthermore, the map seemed to glow and Tau quickly noticed that the top of the table was mad of glass with a small fire underneath it. Tau bent down slightly to find that it wasn't really a table at all. Four metal walls sat underneath the glass top and Tau assumed that the small fire was constantly burning. The metal walls kept it from escaping, it was small enough to where it couldn't melt the glass but at the same time it had nothing to put it out. Tau had to admit though; the glowing effect that it gave the map was something that caught his eye. It gave it a transparent effect.
"I hope you're impressed by everything you've seen so far," a voice filled the room, causing Tau to peak his head up from the map to see a man and a women stepping out from the shadows in the corner of the room.
Both of them looked about Iroh's age. The man, who was the one that spoke, had dull green eyes and his face was so wrinkled he looked as if he shouldn't even be in the correct health to be walking around. The small thin patch of hair and his raspy voice didn't help his appearance much either. The women looked a little better off, her white hair was tied into a bun at the back of her head and her blue eyes seemed to at least have a little life in them.
"I'm mildly intrigued," Tau answered the newcomer's comment, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, "I more surprised by what I'm seeing now. I would've thought that the people in charge of this whole thing would be a little…lively."
"Tau…" Iroh warned, not too pleased by the somewhat rude comment.
"It's alright Iroh," the women spoke up for the first time, holding one hand up in peace, "Tau has come a long way and I'm sure by now he's anxious for answers."
"But first it would be nice to introduce ourselves," the older man said, as he and the women walked up to take their place on the opposite end of the map from where Tau was, "My name is Bartus, I am the Grand Lotus representing the Southern Earth Kingdom."
"And I'm Zonya," the women continued, "I represent the interests of the Watertribes."
"Well I would tell you my name but I have a feeling you already know," Tau told them. He was a little suspicious, he hadn't missed the fact that Bartus said he represented the Southern Earth Kingdom. The fact that he emphasized Southern had to mean that there was a fourth Grand Lotus representing the Northern Earth Kingdom. Iroh was from the Fire Nation so it couldn't be him so who was it? Tau was sure that he wasn't supposed to know there was a fourth. Bartus slipped up. Tau kept that in mind.
"We know who you are Tau," Bartus told him, not thrown off by the fact that Tau decided to not go with the pleasantries, "We wouldn't have gone forwards with releasing you from prison if we didn't know everything there was to know about you."
"In fact," Zonya stated, "I'm the one that suggested your release. It took convincing to get my other two comrades to agree with it," she motioned to Iroh and Bartus, "but they came through so I hope you don't let me down."
"It depends on what you need from me," Tau told her simply.
"Tau has proven that he is at least willing to listen," Iroh stated, joining the other Grand Lotus's on their side of the map, "Its best that we be straight forward with him."
"We are giving you a chance to help undo what you started," Bartus started.
"Undo what?" Tau raised an eyebrow.
"Releasing the Yanari," Zonya answered.
"What are you talking about?" Tau asked, "I wanted to release them. That doesn't mean I did. I failed."
"Well we have reason to believe that you very much succeeded," Bartus told him, leaning his hands on the table.
"There has been various reports of unexplainable occurrences happening all over the world," Iroh began, "People have been mysteriously disappearing, acting different, whole towns have simply just gone dark with no word from them at all."
"Our spiritual guides, which are those that study and try to communicate with the Spirit World, have said they felt a disturbance," Zonya continued as Tau listened to them intently, "They say that the Spirit World is out of balance and they have lost their connection to it. They say they can't feel its presence anymore."
"And what makes you think that all of this is being caused by the Yanari?" Tau questioned.
"It's hard to imagine that this is all coincidence," Iroh explained, "Your battle with the Avatar at the Southern Air Temple happened about five weeks ago and it was there that you began the Yanari's release. All of this started happening around the same time. We have to believe that the two events are connected."
"I may have started the Yanari's release," Tau told them, crossing his arms, "But the Avatar stopped it. He destroyed the Air Temple to do that."
"That much is true," Zonya nodded, "But we believe that, maybe, by stopping it once it had already started, the Avatar merely delayed the Yanari's arrival."
"We don't know exactly what happened or how the Yanari managed to escape from their prison despite the Avatar's actions," Bartus continued for her, "but it is safe to assume that the Yanari are causing all of this. The massive storm brewing in the Southern Earth Kingdom is unheard of. Those types of storms only form in the ocean and only affect the shores. This storm however originated right in the center of the Earth Kingdom and it has gotten stronger."
"This can only mean it is of spiritual origin," Iroh concluded, "And if the storm and the other events are connected, then we have to assume everything is somehow connected with what is happening in the Spirit World. The Spirit World has been in balance for as long as we can remember. The Yanari is the only explanation for any of this, even though it might seem farfetched."
Tau was silent for several moments as he thought over what he had been told. If the Yanari had somehow been released then that meant he had succeeded, Ryu and Sorin's deaths weren't for nothing. Tau felt a sense of relief in that.
"The Yanari's release is what I wanted," Tau finally spoke up, looking at each of the Grand Lotus's across from him, "If what you are saying is true, then I hardly see that as a bad thing. The Yanari could be useful."
"You have been misinformed;" Iroh said sharply, "Whatever you think it is that the Yanari would help you do is just a fool's hope. They're dangerous. They could lead to the end of everything we know. The Avatar himself told you that very thing."
"The Avatar was desperate," Tau countered, "For all you know he could have been lying to try to stop me from continuing."
"The Avatar wasn't lying," Zonya told him, "What the Avatar warned you about was very true. You let your feelings get the better of you and you ignored him because of the death of your two companions. You didn't want their deaths to be in vain so you fought to release the Yanari even though you knew it was possible that you were wrong about everything."
"Well the destruction ofthe world is not what I wanted, I want to make that clear," Tau told them, his voice clearly hiding doubt.
"It might be what you receive though," Bartus told him, "Tell me, after what the Avatar did to his own home, destroying it to stop the Yanari's release from happening and after what we have done to get you here…do you really believe the Yanari are really what you convinced yourself they were?"
"I don't know what to believe anymore," Tau answered, his eyes staring down at the floor. No matter what he had done, he had always believed that he was doing it for the greater good. To think that his actions led to what could possibly be the end of the world was something he didn't even want to consider.
"Look," Zonya spoke up, "We just want you to help us investigate all of this. If the Yanari's release is imminent then we need your power and your expertise to stop them."
"Once you look into this yourself and if you feel that we are wrong about everything, then we can go our separate ways," Bartus continued.
"But if we're right, then you can help us stop it and take back what you've done," Iroh finished.
Tau looked up from the floor to them and breathed in deeply as he closed his eyes. He let out a sigh as he made his decision.
"Okay," he opened his eyes, "What exactly is it that you want me to do?"
"Like we mentioned before," Bartus smiled, pleased that Tau agreed, "There's been reports of towns having problems that they can't even begin to solve."
"The world's governments have dispatched their own soldiers to these spots to offer assistance," Iroh explained, "The Avatar himself his dealing with the most severe and complicated one down in a small city called Mogdashu."
"I'm assuming you'll be sending me to one of these towns as well," Tau raised an eyebrow.
"You'll take a small team and you'll disguise yourselves as Earth Kingdom soldiers to gain access to this town here," Zonya pointed her finger to a small point on the map at the Eastern shore of the Earth Kingdom, "The town is called Titilus and all we know was that they sent an urgent distress call."
"Wouldn't Omashu or Ba Sing Se already have sent support," Tau questioned.
"We already took care of that," Bartus told him, "No one outside of the town will be interfering with your investigation. We need you to go there, find out what is wrong, and report the situation to us. You'll get further orders then once we evaluate the situation."
Tau considered for several moments before nodding, "If I'm going to do this then I want Miyumi as part of my team. I won't do this with people I can't trust."
"Of course," Zonya nodded, "We suspected that would be the case. Miyumi will be joining you as well as Fei if you'll have him."
Tau thought about the firebender. Tau knew him somewhat well already so he would probably be a better choice than anyone else, "I'll accept that," he nodded.
"That'll be the only people you'll need," Bartus said, "We ask that you explain the situation to them personally and make sure they understand what is going on. Tell them what we have just gotten done telling you."
"Titilus is a day's journey from here," Iroh told him, "There is a room already prepared for you next to Miyumi's. Rest up and get ready to leave same time tomorrow."
"Will we be meeting again?" Tau asked, "Or are you guys just going to go back into the shadows and only communicate with messenger hawks?"
"I'll be in regular contact with you," Iroh told him, "Bartus and Zonya have to deal with their own agents."
"Miyumi said that we get assigned to one of you," Tau shook his head, "I never thought she meant that so literally."
"It helps keep things in order," Zonya told him.
"Which is why we need to get back to our other duties," Bartus said, "This meeting is adjourned."
With that, Zonya and Bartus walked out of the room, leaving Tau alone with Iroh.
"That went better than I expected it to," the older man said.
"So you really believe everything they said about the Yanari is true?" Tau asked, his eyes holding a sense of worry.
"Every word," Iroh answered, seeing that the Waterbender was a little distressed, "If it's any consolation, it's not all your fault. The Avatar made mistakes to. He told you how to release them."
"Only because I held Katara hostage," Tau retorted before shaking his head, "If they really are dangerous though then we're just going to have to deal with it. I can't go back and change things."
"Unfortunately," Iroh shook his head, "Tau, there is a chance that we are all wrong but if we aren't, I can't have you wallowing in guilt. I need your head clear."
"You don't have to worry about that," Tau said before he began to walk out of the room to explain things to Miyumi and Fei, "I'll keep my problems under control."
Despite what he said though, Tau felt himself a little fearful. He didn't care what everyone believed about him, he was not a monster. He didn't want to release spirits that would destroy the world. He wanted to release spirits that would help bring balance and peace to it…better than the Avatar could. If he was in fact wrong about the Yanari however then Tau knew one thing:
He had made the biggest mistake of his life.
"So does anyone else feel like today was a complete waste of time," Sokka said, walking into Aang and Katara's bedroom with Suki to find that his sister and her fiancé, as well as Chao, were already there. It was late at night and they were all just coming back from asking around town if people knew anything about what was going on.
"That's what we were just telling him," Katara answered, jerking her head at Chao.
"I mean, I talked to that Molu guy to," Sokka shrugged, "but he seemed to be more interested in meeting one of the Avatar's companions then solving an actual problem. Needless to say, he was about as useless as everyone else.
"That's because you were asking people the wrong questions," Chao told them, "You went around asking about some spirit cave that no one even knows about."
"The cave exists," Aang told him, "It's only about a couple minutes flight from here on Appa."
"Well no one has ever heard of it, let alone ever seen some spirit that you claim that has been causing all of this," Chao shook his head.
"Would you just lay off!" Sokka said sharply, "Just let us do our job."
"What would you rather us ask about?" Suki asked him curiously.
"Well that would be your job to find out wouldn't it," Chao glanced at Sokka, "Whatever it is, do it before anything else happens."
"We're doing are best," Katara told him, keeping her voice calm, "We've never seen anything like this either so we're in the dark about it as much as you are. You'll just have to give us time but we promise we'll get to the bottom of it."
"Well try to do it before the city is burned to the ground," Chao responded before swiftly making his way out the door.
"Man that guy is a pain," Sokka shook his head once Chao left.
"He's probably just scared," Aang said, "No one here knows what going on and for all they know their neighbor will wake up one morning and decide that they want to go kill their friend or something."
"You know, I couldn't have said it better myself," Sokka crossed his arms, "But that seemed a little harsh coming from you."
"I guess I'm a little more tired of all this then I thought," Aang rubbed one of his shoulders.
"Let's just get some rest," Katara suggested, "We can worry about it again tomorrow."
"Right after I use the bathroom," Sokka said suddenly as he turned to walk out the door, "I'll see you back at the room Suki."
"Okay…" Suki watched him go before turning back to Aang and Katara, "Did that come across as odd to anyone else?"
"Eh, its Sokka," Katara waved a hand dismissively, "Odd is to be expected."
The group let out a laugh and Aang and Suki couldn't help but give Katara and amused look.
Chao found himself uncomfortable walking back to his large home in the center of the city. It was late at night and the moon was practically non-existent. Everything was pitch black and Chao couldn't see more than a few feet in front of him. If anyone wanted to kill him, now would be the time to do it.
Someone must have been reading his thoughts because as soon as he thought that, he heard a quick rustling noise behind him. He turned around expecting to see someone only to see the empty streets of Mogdashu.
Feeling a chill run down his spin, he swiftly turned back around and began to walk a little faster. Was he just hearing things or was someone messing with him?
That question ran through his head over and over again before he began to hear the sound of someone running coming from behind him. He turned back around, breathing heavily, once again not seeing anything out of the ordinary.
"Show yourself!" he called out.
As soon as he said that, he heard a loud thump coming from behind him but before he could turn to see the source, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as something knocked him straight to the ground.
His vision became blurry and he felt himself begin to lose consciousness. The back of his head throbbed and he slowly reached his hand back to feel it. He wasn't sure if he was surprised to find his hand covered in his own blood. He heard footsteps walking closer to him and he attempted to crawl away from his attacker only to have a foot hit him roughly in the side and flip him over onto his back.
Chao gasped as he got a brief look at his attacker before everything faded to black…
So all I have to say about this chapter is about the name of the White Lotus's submarine. I tried a lot of different names for it but none of them seemed to fit or anything. I eventually just decided to be lazy and call it the Lotus. That's why I inserted the comment Tau made about the name being unoriginal or something along those lines. I figured since I couldn't come up with a better name for it, I might as well make fun of myself for it. So yeah, just wanted to throw that out there.
Chapter 11 will be up next Friday!