A/N: Whoo! We're finally at chapter 11. Thank you guys, for sticking around this long to read this story which I'm actually throwing together at the top of my head. PRetty good for random bits of improv, no? Thanks to RueBroadway, FireChildSlytherin5, and Nyan Rajanu (I spelled it right, hoo!) for reviewing as often as you do! I love you! And NO MPREG IS GOING TO HAPPEN HERE! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! I might do it in another fic, but not this one, or one related to it, storyline-wise.
ONWARD!
And indeed, it wasn't. From Sokka's vantage point, the entire Southwestern side of Gaoling's walls was swamped with Fire Nation soldiers. Every few minutes or so, enormous flaming balls of coal would fly into the air with black smoke trailing behind them, on a collision course with the city. Sokka would cringe as the missiles began to make their descent, but almost every time they came close to the city, they would break into harmless chunks of earth. Sokka maneuvered through the enormous flaming objects expertly, with Aang breaking up any ones that came to close to home for comfort.
Finally, they were beyond city walls, and in the relative safety of Gaoling. Sokka flew the flying bison around the city, searching for the upper class area of the Earth Kingdom town, marveling at how different the city seemed. It was a lot less clean, due to the uprising that had occurred upon Toph's return to the city and passing over people made them wary. Looking down, he could make out a few calculating gazes, as if they were wondering if they were Fire Nation.
Finally, they found the Bei Fong estate. Looking down on its once-immaculate gardens, Sokka now instead saw a small battalion of Earth benders gathered there. Moving on, he landed the enormous beast in front of the residence, where the entire Bei Fong family was waiting.
"Twinkle Toes! Sugar Queen! Snoozles! Iroh! Angry Jerk!" a young girl's voice called out. Sokka smiled as he saw a familiar girl dressed in a green robe under a yellowish tunic.
"How come Iroh doesn't get a nickname?" Sokka asked, bemused. The blind girl shrugged.
"I don't know. I guess I just couldn't think of one," she told him. Behind her another familiar face advanced upon them, only the face wasn't human. It was a flying lemur, a companion that Sokka had wondered for a while where it had gone.
"Momo!" Aang cried out happily, jumping from Appa's back and catching the lemur in midair. "Where have you been, buddy? We've been looking all over for you!" The lemur chattered curiously as it ran its paws along Aang's head. Aang chuckled happily and turned to Toph. "How have things been going?" he asked the girl. A wicked smile grew on her face as she talked.
"While we were in the fire Nation, my parents began to gather all the Earth benders and Earth Kingdom soldiers together and planned an uprising. We were completely free of the Fire Nation until about a week ago, when the guys at the wall came in, tougher than when they'd first come. We were wondering what happened until Hawky came and told us about Sozin's Comet," she finished. Aang opened his mouth, but she interrupted him. "To answer your question, yes, I'll come with you. I'd go right now, but my mom and dad want to meet you guys and apologize for how they treated you and all that junk." She said this last part in an embarrassed mumble.
"Of course we'll meet them, right, Aang?" Katara said kindly. Aang nodded enthusiastically. Toph turned to Iroh and Lee and began to talk lowly.
"They also want to hear from Zuko and Iroh that they're not gonna go and betray us or something dumb like that," she said. Sokka frowned and looked at the two, waiting for their response. All Lee did was nod. Iroh spoke, however.
"We will tell them when we speak with them," he told the girl. "And Prince Zuko now goes by the name of Lee. We would appreciate it if you referred to him as such."
"Gotcha," was all that the girl said as she turned back around. The six people walked to the entrance of the home, bowing respectfully to the Bei Fongs as they approached.
"Welcome, Avatar and friends. It is a pleasure and an honor to have you in our home once again," Lord Bei Fong said deeply, gracing them with his own bow.
"The pleasure is ours, Lord Bei Fong," Iroh told the man. "And I can assure you, my nephew and I mean no harm to the Avatar or your daughter. The Fire Nation has done terrible things to us, as well."
"So you mean to say you have defected?" Lady Bei Fong questioned.
"Exactly, Madame," Iroh told her. "The Fire Nation considers us traitors, and my niece has become Fire Lord in place of my nephew."
"Is that so?" Lord Bei Fong asked. "Then Prince Zuko is no longer a prince?"
"Please, call me Lee," the teen told the Gaoling nobles. "Zuko is a part of me I'd sooner forget."
"Lee, then," Lord Bei Fong amended. "Come and join us in the dining hall. We were about to take our lunch when your bison was spotted." The six followed the two nobles into their home, through the many halls and courtyards, to a long room with an equally long table.
"Forgive us if the table seems impersonal, but we've been meeting with many people as of late, and the need to have a larger dining hall was deemed necessary," Lord Bei Fong told them. As they were about to be seated, though, someone burst through the door.
"My Lord and Lady!" a young man said, not even pausing to bow, "We need your daughter at the Southwestern Wall immediately! They've brought siege towers!"
----
A short ride on Appa's back brought the group to the Southwestern Wall of Gaoling. Standing on the ramparts, not far-off now, could be seen enormous pillars of metal, propelled by the siege tanks of the Fire Nation. Below, the barrage of flaming missiles continued. Lee watched in awe and slight recognition as the battle continued in much the way the one at the Capital City had, only there was no fog, there was no barricade of earth, and the large flaming charcoal boulders were now flying toward him. He could now see for himself how formidable an opponent the Fire Nation was. "What do we do?" A young major near them asked. "They're using stuff we've never seen before. And it's metal. Only Lady Toph can metal bend, and I don't think-,"
"Quit your yammering!" The no-nonsense voice of Toph commanded. The girl now wore the uniform of the Earth Kingdom army, and, small as she was, she looked imposing in it. "It's attitudes like that that had us lose the Earth Kingdom in the first place! Now get some men ready and wait for my orders!" she practically screamed in the man's face. The soldier nodded, running off to gather as many people as he could. "So?" she asked, turning to Sokka. "Do we have a plan?"
Sokka groaned and shook his head. Iroh then took the opportunity to speak. "If you do not mind, I have a suggestion," the older man said.
"Go ahead, Iroh," Toph said.
"I can tell those siege towers are made completely out of iron, ingenious against Earth benders, but a fatal flaw against Fire benders," he said.
"Well how does that help us?" Toph asked. "We only have two. Three, if you count Twinkle Toes."
"Indeed," Iroh told the girl. "But all we need is a few Earth benders, a Flying Bison, and one skilled Fire Bender."
----
Iroh was crazy. There was no doubt in the panicked mind of Sokka as he, Toph, Aang, and a soldier, who Sokka recognized as the Boulder from the underground Earth bending tournament that he'd attended when they met Toph, flew over the mass that was the Fire Nation army. Flaming stones rocketed around them all like meteors, making Sokka scream slightly every time one came near them, but the three Earth benders managed to divert, send back, or obliterate every stone that came their way.
"Sokka!" Iroh called out. "Get us to the first siege tower!" Sokka nodded to the man, pulling the reigns on the enormous flying animal. Appa turned to the first tower, flying in zigzag patterns to avoid being hit by enemy fire. Soon enough, they were just before the first tower. Iroh stood up then and closed his eyes. He inhaled slowly, and began to move his hands much in the way a water bender would. Streaks of electricity began to trail out of his two fingers before he brought them together and then outward. Lightning arced from the man's fingers and struck the tower. A wicked crackling was heard, and smoke began to rise from the ventilation chambers. As they moved away, the top of the tower exploded in a rain of shrapnel, making all on the back of Appa cheer in victory. This action was repeated until not a single tower was left standing. Pleased, Sokka maneuvered the great beast back to the city and behind the wall.
"The Boulder was very pleased by our battle against the Fire Nation. The Boulder was just disappointed by how little a threat they were against our awesome combined might," The Boulder said enigmatically as the five landed. Sokka laughed at that.
"I guess so," he said as the man got off of the animal and Katara and Lee climbed on. He stood up from his position, offering Aang the reigns. The Avatar took them and he sat at the back of the saddle, ready to sleep. "So are we ready to go?" Sokka asked Aang.
"Yup," Aang said casually. "Toph's said goodbye and everything. Yip, yip!" Appa roared and took to the air, Momo and Hawky following just behind them. Making it past the barrage of boulders successfully, they flew leisurely through the air, making it far past Gaoling by the time night fell.
----
Flute music filled the night air as the forest scenery of the Earth Kingdom rushed past Nioh-An. The dark-haired Fire Nation warrior was riding a Komodo Rhino along with his partner, Huaike. Huaike was the one playing the flute, a habit of his that Nioh-An sometimes found annoying, but never brought up. He was sure that he did things that aggravated the archer. It wasn't even the flute-playing that annoyed the Earth bending master; it was the amount he did. He swore that the only times that Huaike wasn't playing the flute was when he was talking or eating. It was beautiful, yes, but Nioh-An was among the group of people that believed that too much beauty spoiled things. Suddenly, the flute-playing stopped, and a soft voice greeted the man's ears.
"Oi, Nioh-An," the man's voice called out. Nioh-An nodded in acknowledgement to the younger man. "Who did you say was the one that gave us the commission?"
"It was your Fire Lord. Azuna or Azuka or something like that," he told the Fire bender.
"Azula."
"Whatever."
"I just think it's kind of weird that the Fire Lord would ask two mercenaries to show up at an inn for no reason whatsoever. Do you think it's a trap?"
"It's possible," The Nioh-An said to the Fire bender. "If it is, we'll take care of them. It's not like we haven't fought a large amount of Fire Nation soldiers before."
"True," Huaike said. "I guess we'll have to see when we get there."
----
The atmosphere was a bit less cozy than the night previous. Everyone was tired from the dealings in Gaoling, and they had barely set up camp before they were all asleep. Well, most of them, anyway. Lee was still up, going over the events of that day. He'd watched his uncle and Sokka work from the walls. It was an amazing display, and more than once, Lee found himself worried over the two. Still, they came out tired, but unscathed. He kicked himself mentally for worrying over them. If they'd survived everything he, Zhao, and Azula had put them through, taking down siege towers would have, and had proven to not be, anything to them.
"Lee?" A young girl's voice called out. The Water Tribe teen gasped in surprise, then regained his composure as he turned to look at the blind girl who was eyeing him curiously, which in itself, was a paradox that Lee decided to mull over later.
"Why are you still up?" he asked her.
"I could ask you the same thing," she told him. "But I couldn't sleep."
"Me neither. You were amazing in action."
"Thanks," she told him kindly. "I would have been useless, though, if the Boulder wasn't telling me where to bend."
"You still did pretty well," he complemented.
"Uh-huh," she said. "It feels so good to be travelling again. I forgot how weird Sokka and them could be." His heart skipped a beat as she mentioned his name, much to Lee's surprise and Toph's curiosity. "What was that?"
"What?" he asked her, looking around to see what the Earth bender was looking for.
"You," she told him. "I felt your heart go all weird when I talked about the others."
"It's nothing," he told her, blushing.
"M-hmm," she said disbelievingly, lying back down.
Lee sighed and sat down. This was starting to become annoying.
----
"So we're supposed to believe Fire Lord Azula sent us to speak with you," Huaike said disbelievingly as he brushed his light brown hair past his ear. They'd made it to the inn, where they found not a group of Fire Nation soldiers, but a single girl dressed in a ridiculous pink outfit. She told them that she was the one who'd sent for them, and since then, had gone over the parameters of the mission.
"Yes," a young girl said, one much younger than either of the men at the table. She was sipping juice casually as she talked with them. "I'm a good friend of Azula. She wants someone close to her make sure you two do your job."
"Do our job?" Nioh-An said with a snort. The tall, muscular man shook his head and smirked. "And how will we do that if we have to watch a little brat like-,"
"You don't have to worry about me," the girl said. "I can hold my own in a fight. Just ask the warriors at Ba Sing Se or New Ozai."
"Omashu," Nioh-An corrected. "I guess we can give you a chance. But if you hinder us, you can tell the Fire Lord to find another pair of mercenaries. Someone else can hunt down your Avatar."
"Alrighty!" the girl said cheerfully as she played with her long ponytail.
"So, girl," Huaike said. "What's your name?" he asked.
She smiled and spoke in a clear voice. "My name is Ty Lee."