Chapter Ten : Of Woodchips and Wallabies
"I, however, don't like to eliminate the impossible."
We all turned towards the source of the sound. It had come from outside the building; I happened to know that this meant the Discovery Trail, an odd little winding trail with enclosures for animals who can withstand the outdoors and activities for kids – birds' nests to sit in, lily pads to hop on, that sort of thing. There had been a time in my childhood when I was quite taken with it, but at this time of year it tended to be pretty empty. I also happened to know that when Ty Lee had taken off, she had been going in that direction.
"Ty Lee," said Zuko, confirming my fears.
"We can't leave anyone behind," said Aang, as though this had been on his mind already.
"So what are we waiting for?" asked Sokka, and took off. I guess some of Sean's affection for the acrobat still lingered. At any rate, we followed. Past the baboons, which were clustered around the glass watching us as though they knew something interesting were going on. Out the back doors and down the Discovery Trail. Prairie dogs poked their heads up out of their holes to watch us, and ducks scattered as we crossed a pond via a wooden bridge; we sprang from fake wooden lily pad to lily pad, ducked under the porcupine tree, and rattled through a gate in a chain link fence to the wallaby and kangaroo enclosure.
I always rather liked this exhibit. One actually walks into the area in which the marsupials live, along a narrow path; the only thing that keeps the animals and you from touching is their own instincts and a thin rope that encourages you not to go wandering into the meadow where they spend most of their time. The man who was holding Ty Lee's hands behind her back, though, didn't seem to have any regard for the rules; and a rather frightened-looking volunteer, in a maroon shirt with the Prospect Park Zoo label on the breast, who was supposed to tell people to stay on the path, had declined to correct him. The large scorch mark on the tree the volunteer was cowering against may have had something to do with that.
Ty Lee was struggling like a wildcat, but she wasn't in a very good position, with both her hands being held in one of his and his knee in the small of her back. He had his other hand clamped over her mouth, presumably to stifle a scream like the one that had alerted us earlier. As for the man himself, I wasn't sure at first what to make of him: faintly Asian, I thought, with brownish hair and brown eyes. When he saw us, he scowled, swore, and tossed Ty Lee aside. She should have lost her balance, but this is Ty Lee we're talking about, circus freak extraordinaire; she managed to turn the fall into a neat somersault, right herself, and pirouette in the direction of her attacker. He took one step backwards, into what I didn't recognize as a bending stance until a sphere of flame leapt from his flattened palm.
A gust of wind intercepted the flame halfway, knocking it off course as Ty Lee dove to the side, dropping on her hands to whip her legs out at the man's ankles. He stumbled backwards, just avoiding her, and moved again in swift, efficient firebending forms. The grass caught in a circle around him; a small grey animal, like a cross between a rabbit and a kangaroo, hopped out of one of the bushes, dragging a singed tail.
"Careful of the wallabies!" shouted the volunteer, still cowering against the tree.
Katara reached into her tote bag and pulled free a Poland Spring water bottle, knocking off the cap and pulling loose the water within to coil in an uneven sphere around her hand. Sokka bent to grab a stick. Ty Lee came flying through the flames as though thrown, and landed on the ground, but when she rose, she looked more angry than injured. "Give me an opening," she growled.
"On it," said Katara. "Toph!"
The earthbender moved swiftly and precisely, wrenching a clod of earth from the wallaby meadow. A kangaroo got quickly out of the way. "Go," she directed, hurling it forward. Katara spun, stretching the water so it drenched the packed earth; Toph moved both hands down in a chopping motion, and the dirt landed heavily on the flames, smothering a portion of them.
"Ty Lee!" shouted Sokka, cupping his hands. She leaped, planting one foot in his palms, and he flung her forward so she dove through the opening, landed next to the firebender within, and before he could move, jabbed her fingers into some key nerve endings.
Zuko, directing his attention at the fire, drew his arms down hard, and the flames fell in response, easily quelled now that the other firebender couldn't maintain them. A downdraft of wind from Aang's quarter knocked out any remaining sparks. The firebender attempted a form, looked confused when it didn't work, and still looked confused when Ty Lee's hand blurred again, knocking him bonelessly to the ground, slumped against one of the thin trees that studded the enclosure.
He snarled at us. "You won't get anything other than name, rank, and serial number."
On the other side of the path, the volunteer and all the wallabies and kangaroos were huddled against a somewhat larger tree; Katara, still bending water around her hand, went to tend to them. Uninterested in the marsupials and the frightened zoo worker, I ambled over to the firebender.
"You're Fire Nation infantry, aren't you?" demanded Zuko.
"Private Ramakei," answered the man, followed by some incomprehensible jumble that probably included his squadron and division or something.
Zuko stood over him, scowling; a brief wind ruffled his dark hair, exposing his scar. "Do you know who I am?"
Absently, I picked up one of the woodchips padding the path. This one was long and sharp; I turned it over in my hand, testing the heft.
The Fire Nation soldier laughed harshly. I wouldn't laugh in that situation, but maybe that's just me. "You're Princess Azula's exiled traitor of a brother," he scoffed. "The useless one."
I acted without thinking, taking the wood chip between two fingers and whirling towards the prisoner as though intending to stab him; the pointed tip of the stick ended up about half an inch from his ear. "You insult Zuko again and I nail you to a tree," I informed him, matter-of-factly.
Fangirl moment, I guess.
Aang's hand touched my arm, moving the almost-lethal wood chip away from Ramakei's head. "Calm down. Look, you're one of Azula's soldiers? Then she must have told you the only way to get back is to use the Amulet, right?"
The firebender nodded defiantly.
"Well, then, did she tell you I'm the only one who can use the Amulet?" Aang pushed me, gently but firmly, the rest of the way out of the way, so he was standing in front of the prone soldier.
He shook his head.
Aang frowned, readjusted, and continued. "Well, it's true. As you can probably tell, I'm the Avatar, and I'm also the only airbender in this part of the universe. The Amulet can only be activated by a very complicated bending that involves all four elements. So even after we go up to the Bronx and activate the Amulet, I'm your only chance to get home. Wouldn't it be better if we all worked together for now?"
The firebender looked like he would have taken Aang's head off if he could move anything below his neck. "I'm loyal to the Princess Azula, Avatar," he spat.
Zuko sighed. "Azula obviously sent him to spy on us, and she wouldn't have used a spy who would even think about betraying her. It's hopeless."
Sokka rubbed his hands together and smiled evilly enough to make the firebender cringe away from him slightly. "Oh, I wouldn't say hopeless…"
"We'll leave him here," said Aang, suddenly and decisively. "Come on. Katara, are you done?"
Katara stood up from amongst a group of kangaroos and wallabies; the marsupials scattered, revealing the volunteer had passed out against the tree. "Yeah. I don't know why I can't get him to wake up, though, there's nothing wrong with him."
The volunteer cracked one eye open, noticed we were still around, and immediately closed it again, feigning unconsciousness.
"Toph," said Aang. "I don't want him following us any further."
"Roger that," said the earthbender, and lifted her arms. The dirt on the ground around Ramakei rose, wrapping around him like a cocoon, leaving only his head exposed.
"Now," said Aang firmly. "Azula probably sent you to spy on us. Was there anyone else with you?"
The soldier said nothing. Aang glared at him; Sokka did that grinning-evilly-and-rubbing-his-hands-together thing again. I spun my woodchip between my fingers.
"No," he said at last.
"Sounded like the truth," said Toph, scuffing her foot against the dirt.
"Okay. We're done here," said Aang, stomping off down the trail. We all followed.
"You're all doomed!" the firenation soldier shouted after us. "I don't believe you! When the Princess gets her hands on you…"
Toph, who was bringing up the rear, spun into an earthbending form. The dirt cocooning Rokei rose a little further, blocking his mouth. "Oh, shut up," she said, and we all walked out of the wallaby enclosure.
"Are you sure you want to leave him there?" asked Sokka as the gate clanked shut behind us. "He probably knows where we're going. If Azula finds him, she could ambush us. Which, may I remind you, would not be fun."
"Actually, I'm counting on it," said Aang. "Like the Kraken said, we can't leave anyone behind in this world. This way, we'll know where Azula is when we need her."
Sokka considered that for a moment. "You. Are more devious then you look."
It was getting dark now, and as we walked into the building at the end of the Discovery Trail, an announcement that the zoo would be closing within the next ten minutes blared over the loudspeakers. "I don't think you want to go up to the Bronx tonight," I suggested.
"No," Aang agreed.
"So where should we stay?" asked Ty Lee.
"You're with me," I reminded her. "You're my cousin, remember? I can probably sneak in one or two more people, but my apartment just isn't very big. And my parents can't know."
"I live right around here," said Sokka airily. "Well, you know, Sean."
"Won't you need permission from your parents?" asked Toph.
Sokka's face went momentarily dark, and I sensed Sean might have had parental issues, but he wasn't one to dwell on things like that; when he answered, it was lightly. "Nah, Dad won't mind."