Disclaimer: Consult previous chapter.
Special thanks to my previous beta Lavanya Six, and my current betas Devon and Aurelia Le!
The Right to Rule
An Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic
"Listen, Joo Dee. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for you to follow me around and observe me for a month, but we are kind of on a deadline. So here's the deal: you lead me to your boss, and I don't crush you like a grape."
The woman's struggles vibrated down through the giant stone fist gripping her.
"I'm not exactly a patient person, Joo Dee."
Chapter 10
The Tales of Ba Sing Se
After a surprisingly productive negotiation with Long Feng, Azula managed to get him to put the full weight of the Earth Kingdom's military behind an assault on the Fire Nation capital. In exchange, she just had to agree not to let the city's citizenry know anything about the war. And support him gaining full dominion over the city. And promise to get him as much money as possible from the Fire Nation after the war's end.
Well, as long as she had a working relationship with them, one ruler was as good as another. Besides, "as much as possible" was a rather flexible phrase.
In any event, three of the four main anti-Fire Nation forces were now more or less aligned. The Southern Water Tribes, Omashu, and Ba Sing Se were prepared to launch an invasion together. Only the Northern Water Tribe remained.
Azula wanted to head out for them immediately, but the others convinced her that, since they were ahead of schedule anyway, they should spend a day in Ba Sing Se to renew their spirits and explore the city. Well, technically, they all refused to set one foot outside of the walls no matter how much Azula threatened them, but really, giving in to them was a magnanimous gesture.
It was, after all, only for one day.
The Tale of Sokka (part 1)
Sokka strutted the streets of Ba Sing Se with his chest out and head held high.
He had first joined Azula's quest in order to see the world. But for the most part, they were too busy dashing from one place to another for him to be able to sit back and take in the view. Plus they spent most of their time camping out, and after a while, each grassy hill started looking a lot like the last grassy hill.
The fact that he was the weakest member of the party in combat didn't exactly help matters.
But now! Now they were in Ba Sing Se, the largest city in the world! Sokka was finally back in his element. He was going to take advantage of this opportunity to finally have a solo adventure. And maybe meet a few girls while he was at it.
As if in response to his resolution, Sokka rounded a corner and immediately saw a gaggle of high-class Ba Sing Se girls talking to each other and giggling. Figuring that in such a big group, there was a good chance at least one of them would be interested in him, Sokka put on a confident air and swaggered over to them.
"Hey, ladies. I saw you looking at me." The girls giggled even louder, which was probably a good sign. "I know I must be very...exotic," he intoned, rubbing his chin, "so what do you say we go somewhere so I can tell you about...where I'm from?"
"Sorry, but I'm not interested in hearing about your swamp," one of them said, and they all broke out into raucous laughter. They barreled past him before he could respond. Sokka could hear whispers of "Did you see the way he's dressed?" and "They let anyone into the Upper Ring these days, don't they?"
Sokka stood in the middle of the street for a few seconds afterward, then slapped himself on the cheek. He was just unlucky, that's all. In fact, now that he'd used up his poor luck for the day, the rest of his adventure should go great!
For the next few hours, he found himself, in succession: booed by spectators when he tried performing with his boomerang, getting food poisoning from a meal he had never heard of but ordered "to see what it was like," chased by a man for accidentally stumbling onto his property while exploring, and turned down by more girls than he could count (with words that ranged from polite to heart-piercing).
He was finding it a bit hard—though not impossible!—to hold onto his natural optimism.
By the end of the afternoon, Sokka had somehow managed to wander into the Lower Ring. Tired but not hungry, he entered a tea shop and ordered a cup.
In the middle of drinking what he felt was some rather bland tea, he heard a voice next to him say, "Well, you look rather ragged."
Sokka turned to see a pretty Earth Kingdom girl sitting next to him, with pigtails, green eyes, and some fairly large...other features. She was smiling.
He pinched himself in the arm and yelped in pain. However, instead of disappearing like an illusion should, the girl merely giggled and pointed at his cup of half-finished tea. "If you're looking for refreshment, there are few worse options than Pao's tea, you know."
He looked at his cup and pushed it around a little with his fingers, still not quite believing what was happening. "Yeah, well, I'm not exactly an expert on tea, so."
"You're certainly a barrel of sunshine."
Sokka sighed. "Sorry. I've just had a bad day."
He looked at the girl out of the corner of his eye. She had her elbow on the table and was resting her head on her palm, staring at him. His face got a lot hotter than the cooling tea in his hands. "Mm," the girl said, "I've had those." She started tapping her fingers on the table. Sokka's throat suddenly became extremely dry, and he downed the rest of the tea in one gulp. The girl giggled. "Finished?"
Sokka wiped the tea remnants from his mouth. "I guess."
"Want to hang out with me for a bit?"
In his mind, Sokka saw himself smile suavely, say "But of course, my lady" in a silvery voice, take her hand, and lead her out of the building. In reality, Sokka stuttered for a bit before saying "Sure" in a high, squeaky voice.
The girl giggled again. "Let's go, then." She stood up, then as a seeming afterthought, gave him a short bow. "Name's Jin, by the way."
Sokka matched the bow awkwardly. "Sokka."
The Tale of Kalu
The man screamed himself hoarse and writhed against his bindings as the heated metal was pressed to his skin.
Kalu had been curious about Earth Kingdom medicinal practices, so early in the morning he went to the Ba Sing Se General Hospital. One of the doctors there agreed to take Kalu along on his rounds, while exclaiming excitedly about the things he had heard regarding waterbending doctors and how much he was looking forward to comparing notes.
This patient had suffered a serious wound during a robbery and was at risk of bleeding out. Still, Kalu could've closed the wound relatively painlessly and perhaps even have returned him to fighting shape after a few months. The Earth Kingdom method of treatment, on the other hand, was...well.
"That should do it," the doctor said after his patient's cries had subsided. "You'll stay here for the next few days so I can check up on you." With that, he left and approached Kalu, his eyes sparkling. "So? What would you have done?"
The patient's continuing whimpers blended into the background noise of the hospital. "I probably could've closed that wound just with waterbending."
"Really? That's fascinating. How exactly does that work?"
"I don't know much about the theory, honestly," Kalu lied. He would've happily discussed the topic for hours with another waterbender, but he wasn't going to lecture someone on the basics during his vacation. At least, not without getting paid, and that didn't seem to be in the offing.
"Hm. Well, if you know someone who does, send him my way. Who knows, maybe we can even set up a summit one day! Learn from each other, yeah?" He slapped Kalu on the back.
Burning a wound shut. Feeding plants to a boy with foamy urine. Sticking a bunch of needles into a woman to cure pain. He couldn't think of a single thing he had seen here that he wanted to learn. "That sounds like a fantastic idea," he said.
After he finally escaped from the hospital and cleansed his soul with food, Kalu was left with no real plan for the rest of the day, so he decided to just take off in a random direction and enjoy the city's sights. In retrospect, this is what he should've done from the beginning. Following his whims was what he did best.
He was jolted out of his daydreaming when a man roughly shoved him aside, almost causing him to fall over. Annoyed, he opened his mouth to berate the man when he heard a woman shout, "Someone stop him! He stole my bag!"
Kalu looked around. This was a small street, and no one else was around.
He sighed, casually drew his knife, then tossed it at the retreating figure. Kalu was far from an expert knife thrower, but the thief was stupidly running in a straight line, so it was child's play to hit him.
Kalu didn't enjoy the scream of pain, but he didn't not enjoy it, either.
Humming to himself, Kalu strode over to the thief, who was still recovering from the shock of sudden pain. He was in the process of standing up when Kalu reached him.
"You…you could've killed me!" the man gasped.
"Only if I had hit you in the throat," Kalu said dismissively. "And that was very unlikely." He put his foot on the thief's back, shoving him back to the ground, and pulled out the knife with a squelch, causing another scream of pain. "Oh, don't be so dramatic. It's not even that deep." While he bent some water into the thief's wound with one hand, his other withdrew the woman's purse from the man's grip.
"Thank you so much, sir!" Kalu looked back and saw the woman from before, face filled with gratitude. "How can I ever repay you?"
Hmm...she was blushing now, and not quite meeting his eyes. Not just gratitude, then. She clearly had a preferred method of repayment in mind already.
With a sly smile, Kalu reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of silver coins. "This is my usual fee for treating a battle wound. It'll be sufficient."
The woman, clearly confused, merely nodded. Kalu gave her a perfect bow, stuck the coins into his pocket, finished healing the thief's wound, and strolled away while humming to himself again. This would pay for a very nice dinner tonight.
After a few seconds, as an afterthought, he called out over his shoulder, "You should probably deliver that man to the proper authorities."
The Tale of Naya
Naya sighed deeply as she lay down in the tub, savoring the cold water. Not for the first time, her thoughts drifted to the South Pole.
Her husband, like most adults in Hakoda's tribe, was out scouting most of the year. Her son, now ten years old, had shown a talent for waterbending at an early age and so spent most of his time with the other apprentices. Because of that, when she received her mission to train the Avatar and escort her around the world, she had assumed it wouldn't be so bad to be away from her family.
She was wrong. Being an ocean away was a huge difference. It wasn't just that she had even less chance to see them. If something happened to either of them, she wouldn't know for months. Even now they could be injured, or dead.
It was the not knowing that drove her insane. She was prepared for death; every Southern Water Tribesperson was. But she couldn't handle not knowing.
To be honest, though, that wasn't even the worst of it. The worst was the fact that she left the only country she had ever known, the only people she had ever known, and was now stuck traipsing around foreign lands where the only people she knew, she hated.
Naya was a waterbender of the South. She would fulfill her duty. Even if she hated it every step of the way.
She internally smacked herself when she left the baths. Today was supposed to be a day of relaxation, not a day to remember all the things she hated about her life. She started walking the streets of the Upper Ring randomly, hoping something would catch her eye.
And something did, of a sort. A child's wails reached her ears, and curious, Naya followed the sound. They belonged to a girl who looked no older than seven, and she was bawling in the middle of the street. The other Earth Kingdom citizens weren't even looking at her as they passed by.
Annoyed, she grabbed the arm of the man closest to her. "Why is everyone ignoring that child?"
The man looked at Naya like she was crazy. "Let sleeping lion-dogs lie, lady." He yanked his arm out of her grasp and continued walking.
She spared him a brief disdainful glare, then looked back at the girl. Naya frowned. In the South, a young child wouldn't just be ignored like this. Then again, in the South, everyone knew everyone else.
Cautiously, she approached the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hello. I'm Naya. Are you lost?"
The girl just wailed some more, not even looking at her.
Naya frowned some more. She wasn't good with kids. Her own son had been mostly raised by his grandparents while she and her husband were off protecting the tribe. She had never really learned how to interact with children. "Um...where do you live?"
If anything, the girl started crying even louder. And people were staring at them now.
Naya felt a sudden urge to smack the child, but fought it down. That would not be appropriate to do with a stranger. She tried to think of a way to make the girl shut up and listen to her, but her mind was coming up with nothing.
Finally, her frustration boiled over, and she just bent some water into the girl's face. Which got her attention, at least. Naya asked, "Did you get separated from your parents?"
The girl nodded. Tears were pouring from her eyes, adding to the water already on her face. "I can't find my mommy."
"Why don't you tell me where your house is? We can go there together."
The girl shook her head so quickly she splashed Naya with water and tears. "She won't be there."
Naya blinked. "Okay...where would she be, then?"
The girl reached into her pocket and fished out a piece of paper, worn and smudged so much it was almost impossible to read. Squinting, Naya could barely make out the address written on it.
She led the girl, Hua, who turned out to be six years old, to the nearest guard outpost. Along the way, the girl explained, through tears, that she usually met her mother at that address, but she got lost along the way this time and couldn't figure out where to go. Naya thought it was strange that a parent would let their small child walk around such a big city alone, but maybe that was one of the facets of parenting she'd never learned.
When she arrived at the outpost, she displayed the badge Long Feng had given all of them after his negotiation with the Avatar. The badge not only functioned as a pass to give them free reign in the city, but it also convinced people to do what you wanted. Nobody wanted to displease a person who had Long Feng's favor.
When the guard read the address, he looked at the two of them with an odd expression, but gave them easy-to-follow directions, and soon they were off.
Talking to Hua was an interesting experience. The girl certainly had thoughts and could carry on a decent conversation, but her opinions and worldview were almost incomprehensible to Naya. For example, despite being miserable to the point of completely shutting out the world just a few minutes ago, she was now animatedly discussing her dolls and other playthings with a woman she had just met.
It made Naya a little jealous, to be honest. Hua seemed to live solely in the present, while she spent so much of her time in the past.
Eventually, they reached the end of the guard's instructions. But when they turned the corner and got a view of the destination, Naya was shocked at what she saw.
Ba Sing Se
Upper Ring Cemetery
Naya gaped. She looked at Hua, who suddenly had a very determined look on her little face as she walked deliberately to the cemetery's gate. The man there waved her in as soon as he saw her, but hesitated when Naya fumbled in her robes and pulled out her pass, until Hua said, "Let her in too, please."
Once inside, Naya followed Hua past the rows of headstones, the little girl looking at each one before moving on.
Naya had known the Earth Kingdom buried their dead. She had never really understood why; indeed, she had felt it a bit offensive—it was like they valued the corpse over the spirit. When she had first seen this city, with its walls dividing everything, she had formed this theory: Earth Kingdomers are so obsessed with keeping everyone separate they even force their dead into little individuated dwellings.
Eventually, Hua stopped at a stone and knelt down in front of it. Naya looked at its inscription. All it had was a name: Lian Zhang.
The two of them stayed like that for a while, Hua kneeling, Naya standing. It wasn't until the sun started retreating into the western mountains that Hua finally rose to her feet.
Naya put an arm around the girl's shoulder. She didn't resist, and they walked out of the cemetery together.
"Where do you live?" Naya asked.
"With my uncle."
"Shall I take you to his house?"
Hua nodded.
As they walked home in silence, Naya kept her face impassive. But her thoughts were a raging blizzard.
Like every other Southern Water Tribesperson, she was prepared for death. Her own father had died when she was young, though not as young as Hua. Death was tragic, but it was also inevitable, and Naya had never seen the need to mourn it. The important thing was that the tribe lived on.
And yet, at that moment, she would have sacrificed almost anything to give Hua's mother back to her.
At the door to her uncle's house, Naya and Hua hugged and said goodbye. She watched the girl close the door with an odd mixture of emotions.
She never did learn how Hua's parents died.
The Tale of Toph
Toph hated Ba Sing Se. All the rules and regulations and boundaries made her feel like she was back at her parents' house. Luckily, Long Feng's pass let her enter the Middle and Lower Rings, where people understood Toph's philosophy: I don't bother you, you don't bother me.
Of course, being a young blind girl walking alone and wearing expensive clothes did attract the fun kind of attention. People attempted to rob her no less than three times that morning. Needless to say, they very much regretted it (though Toph didn't).
Early in the afternoon, she was walking down a side alley, taking in all the vibrations and noises from the city, when a group of children younger than her ran up and surrounded her.
"What's this?" she asked, smiling. "You guys want a fight?"
"That depends on how you answer us," one of them said smugly.
His attitude almost made her upend the lot of them, but she would rather trade some trash-talk first. "Well, what are you waiting for? Ask away."
The same boy, evidently their leader, spoke again. "Are you the one who's been going around beating up thieves with earthbending?"
"Word travels around fast in this town," Toph replied.
"Want to give us a demonstration?"
She stomped, and a huge section of ground behind her rose up to the 'ooh's and 'aah's of the kids. It was a rather basic move, but it looked impressive.
Not to the leader, though, because he just scoffed. "Any idiot with brute strength can do that."
Toph raised an eyebrow. With another stomp, she sent the mass of rock crashing to the ground. Then, silently, she stuck her hand into the ground beneath her and raised it up, taking a mound of earth with it. Very deliberately, she made motions with her other hand, forming the earth into the shape of a clenched fist. As a finishing touch, she even made the rock-hand open and close.
"If you know about earthbending," she said, "you should know how difficult that trick is."
When the leader boy spoke next, he made a lot of effort to sound calm, but his heart was beating as fast as a rabbit-fox. "Not bad, I suppose."
Toph sneered, then replaced the earth, bending it into the shape that fit the hole. "So what do you want with me, then?"
"My name's Peng," the boy replied. "My gang got into a fight with our rivals a few days ago, and...we kind of lost. We want to hire you so we can get revenge."
"What's in it for me?" she asked, tilting her head.
"We can pay you three—"
Toph laughed. "I have more than enough money, trust me. Try again."
That seemed to throw Peng off, but to his credit, he recovered quickly. "You're new here, right? We'll take you in."
She considered telling him she was going to leave tomorrow, but decided against it. "Sorry, not interested."
"Come on!" Peng was sounding desperate now. "You've gotta want something!"
Toph made a show of thinking deeply, then shrugged. "Whatever. I'm always up for a fight." Not like I have anything better to do.
She did grin at the cheers that remark got.
It didn't take long for them to reach the hideout of Peng's rival gang. "We're here to get revenge for last time, Ping!" he shouted.
It didn't take long for a bunch of kids to file out of the small building. One of them, presumably Ping, stepped forward. "What makes you think this'll end any different?" Ping said. From his voice, Toph guessed he was a few years older than Peng.
"We've got a secret weapon this time!" Peng stated triumphantly. The others stepped back to reveal her.
Ping laughed. "So you ran to get help from a girl, Peng? What're you gonna do next, cry to our mother?"
"You shut up!" Peng shouted, sounding quite embarrassed. Toph was enjoying the back-and-forth, until she realized Ping had used an odd word choice. Our mother?
"Aww, what's the matter? Why don't you go run behind your girlfriend's skirt, baby brother?" All the kids in Ping's gang laughed, while the kids in Peng's gang hurled insults. Toph herself, on the other hand, was frowning, deep in thought.
"I'll make you eat those words!" Peng finally said. "Go get them, earthbender! We've got your back!"
Toph sighed. "You guys are all idiots." With a stomp and a hand motion, she created a wave in the earth around her and spread it out in all directions, sending everyone else flying.
Except, to her surprise, it wasn't everyone. The underlings fell into a heap, but both Peng and Ping were unaffected. They had stopped the rock wave with earthbending before it reached them.
Now this is getting interesting. A plan soon formed in Toph's mind.
"Hey! Why'd you attack us, too!?" Peng sounded betrayed. Which he was, to be fair.
"I'm going to make you pay for messing with my gang, girl." Ping just sounded angry.
Toph smiled broadly. "Let's get this party started, then."
Both boys drew up masses of stone and sent them flying at her, again and again. Each time, she deflected them with a dismissive gesture. Several times, she tried to knock them off their feet by shifting the ground from under them, but they managed to keep their balance.
"So you're aware of the first rule of earthbending," Toph mused aloud. "Always keep your feet on the ground."
"You know," Ping said, "that arrogant attitude of yours is really starting to piss me off." Peng just grunted. Their underlings were starting to stand up now, but none of them dared to interfere in the benders' fight.
The two brothers started stepping up and varying their attacks. As Ping sent a rock at her head, Peng tried to encase her feet in stone. As Peng fired volleys at her, Ping covered his arms in earth and rushed at her. Toph was still able to counter their moves, but now she was actually having to exert some effort.
As the boys stepped up their attacks even more, Toph was tempted to give up her plan. After all, she had no reason to care about these kids. But out of stubbornness or whatever, she stuck to it.
Finally, her moment came. The two brothers combined their efforts to raise a giant stone slab out of the ground, and sent it hurtling toward her at high speed. Toph planted her feet and punched the slab with both fists, making it explode, while at the same time bending the ground she was standing on, sending her flying backward. She gave a nice, loud scream for good measure.
Cautiously, the other kids started to gather around her prone body. After half a minute passed and she didn't move, however, they seemed to consider the fight won, and started cheering.
Toph waited a suitable length of time, then stood up slowly.
"Don't feel so tough now, do you, girl?" Ping said smugly.
"That's what you get when you mess with us!" Peng added.
A smile flickered across Toph's lips at that last word, but she quickly suppressed it. "Don't get too cocky, boys. I would've won if it had been one-on-one."
She was slightly concerned she was laying it on a bit too thick, but it turned out she needn't have worried. "Sorry, girl," Ping said, "but the only one who gets to mess with my little brother is me. You fight with him, you fight with me too."
"And the loser doesn't get to make excuses," Peng said.
Toph sighed, long and melodramatically. "I suppose you're right."
"You bet we are!"
"Now get out of our territory!"
Toph did her best to look tired and defeated as she walked away, to jeers and insults from all the other kids. As she walked away, though, she started giggling, then laughing. Her plan went off without a hitch. That stupid Oma and Shu story was about how people would only get along if you terrified them, but she sure showed them. Even Azula would be proud. Maybe.
Though losing a fight, even on purpose, really grated. Toph set out to see if there was some sort of dojo she could crash.
The Tale of Sokka (part 2)
After telling Jin he was a new arrival—not technically a lie, even though he did heavily imply that he was a refugee like her—she offered to give Sokka a tour of the Lower Ring. While he wasn't particularly intrigued by that prospect at first, he had to admit that the seedy underbelly of Ba Sing Se did take on a new look through Jin's eyes. As she excitedly pointed out the good and bad restaurants and bars, the store not-so-secretly controlled by a criminal gang, the empty lots kids gathered at to play makeshift games, and countless other places, the slums and decrepit buildings started to attain an odd sort of dignity. It might be a dirty, broken-down armpit of the city, but to countless numbers of people, it was home.
As the two of them were lounging on a park bench, exchanging stories about their respective journeys to Ba Sing Se (Sokka, again, only lying by omission), an angry voice suddenly interrupted them. "Jin! What are you doing?!"
Sokka looked at her, confused. Jin's face was contorted into a grimace. "My boyfriend," she muttered.
"You have a boyfriend!?"
Jin didn't have the chance to respond before the boyfriend in question approached them. He didn't look much older than Sokka, but he was a lot bigger—at least a head taller, and far more muscular. Sokka gulped.
"What are you doing, Jin?" the boyfriend repeated, in a voice that was less loud yet, somehow, even angrier.
"None of your business, Chen," she said through gritted teeth.
"Are you saying it's none of my business that my girlfriend is having a date with another man!?"
"Hey!" Sokka said, rising to his feet. "If the lady says it's not your business, it's not your business."
Chen faced him, and Sokka involuntary shrank back a bit when he saw Chen's extremely angry face. "You shut up," Chen growled. "I'll deal with you later."
"You won't be dealing with anyone, Chen!" Jin was standing up too, now, and she sounded as angry as her boyfriend.
Chen turned back to her. "I went to your place hours ago, and your parents told me you had gone out for a quick cup of tea. I wait for an hour, go out looking for you, and find you running around with some village hick!?"
"Who are you calling a hick!" Sokka shouted, but he was ignored by the other two.
"So you were the one waiting this time, Chen? How'd it feel?"
"Don't you change the subject here."
"That is exactly the subject! The only time you ever show you care about me is when you're screaming at someone for coming near me!"
"So now it's bad for me to be worried about other guys hitting on my girlfriend?"
"You don't treat me like a girlfriend, you treat me like your favorite shirt!"
Sokka became increasingly uncomfortable as their argument went on, each listing in great detail what they didn't like about the other. He was backing away slowly when Chen roughly grabbed Jin's wrist.
"Come on, Jin, we're leaving," he said, turning around.
"Let go of me."
"I said, we're leaving."
"And I said, let go—"
"You shut up!" Chen whirled to face her, and while Sokka didn't know what he was about to do, he didn't intend to find out. He tackled Chen and pinned him to the ground.
"You stay out of this, village boy!" Chen roared, shoving Sokka off of him. Sokka slid a few feet before pulling himself to a stop, taking out his boomerang—and receiving a foot in the chest, which sent him crashing into the remains of a building.
Idiot, Sokka thought hazily, should've used the boomerang first instead of tackling him. Sokka had ignored Father's first rule of combat, remain calm at all times, and was paying for it. His stomach burned—Chen had kicked him hard—and the rest of his body was severely aching from the impact.
As the world started coming into focus again, he saw Chen advancing on him, cracking his knuckles. Sokka hastily searched for his boomerang, only to see it lying on the ground where Chen had kicked him.
He hadn't even been able to keep hold of his weapon.
I really am a failure.
But before Chen could reach him, Jin stepped in between the two of them, arms outstretched.
"What are you doing, Jin?" Chen asked.
"You've done enough, Chen. Now leave him alone."
"Or what?"
"You know the friends my father has," Jin said, her tone more serious than Sokka had ever heard from her.
Chen gaped. "You'd go that far to protect this—"
"Leave. Him. Alone."
Chen looked completely disgusted. "Fine. Have it your way. We're through. And remember, girl, I know some people too. If I were you, I'd watch my back from now on." With that, he turned around and walked away.
Soon after he was out of sight, Jin rushed over and helped Sokka stand up. He was ashamed at needing her assistance, especially since she had just saved his ass, but he bowed to necessity. "How do you feel?" she asked, sounding greatly worried.
Sokka chuckled meekly. "What do you think?"
Jin lowered her eyes. "Sorry."
He felt bad. "No, sorry, it's okay. I feel like crap, but I've had worse. I'll be better in no time." That, at least, caused a small smile to appear on Jin's face. Sokka felt a bit better. "What about you?" he asked. "Is Chen really going to—"
"Hah." Jin shook her head. "I don't think so. He was just upset. He's normally a pretty decent guy, you know, it's just..." she sighed. "Nowadays, we just bring out the worst in each other, I guess."
Sokka didn't really understand, but he nodded anyway.
"I guess I should take you home. Where do you live?"
Sokka tried to prevent his growing panic from showing. If he told her he lived in the Upper Ring, she'd know he wasn't really a refugee. "I think I can get back by myself, thanks."
"It's really no big deal—"
"I said I'll be fine!" That came out much harsher than he had intended, but he couldn't take it back now. His stomach sunk into his shoes when he saw Jin's expression.
"Fine, then," she said emotionlessly. "I guess I'll head home."
It's easier this way, Sokka told himself as she turned around and walked away. I mean, I just met her today, by chance, her boyfriend beat me up, and I'll be leaving tomorrow anyway. All I have to do is stay silent, and it'll be easier for...
"Wait!" he called out right before she turned the corner.
Jin stopped, but didn't respond or turn around.
"I'm sorry," Sokka said. "I'd really appreciate it if you could help me get home."
She didn't do anything for a few seconds. But eventually, she turned back around and nodded.
Jin half-supported him as they walked. The only time either of them spoke was when Sokka gave one or two-word directions. However, she became increasingly confused as he led them closer and closer to the gate separating the Lower and Middle Rings.
Finally, when it became clear they were heading for the gate, Jin said something. "Where are we going?" she whispered loudly.
"To the gate."
"But—" She was cut off when Sokka fished in his clothing and pulled out the pass Long Feng had given them. When she saw it, Jin's eyes grew wide.
The guard at the gate stared at them suspiciously, but when he saw the pass, he quickly made his expression neutral again, nodded, and earthbent the gate open. He technically wasn't supposed to let Jin in too, but he didn't say anything when they both passed through. Another benefit of Long Feng's pass: nobody who saw it wanted to upset you.
As the two of them walked through the Middle Ring, Sokka recovered enough that he could walk without any support, and gave Jin a short account of his unabridged journey to the city. Even sticking only to the essentials, and leaving out matters of sensitive military importance, they were in the Upper Ring and almost at their guest house before Sokka finished.
Jin shook her head in amazement. "Honestly, it's kind of hard to believe you."
Sokka nodded, unsure of what to say.
Suddenly, though, her face brightened and she grinned. "But I did think you were a little too dark for it to be just a tan."
They laughed as they finally arrived at the guest house.
At the doorway, they stopped and looked at each other.
"So...this is it for tonight, huh?" Jin asked, nervously.
Sokka nodded.
"Um, how will I get back to the Lower Ring?"
Sokka internally smacked himself. He hadn't thought of that. "I guess Kalu can take you," he said after a few seconds of frantic thought. "He should...understand."
Jin looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't know what. Or maybe that was Sokka himself. Either way, they stared at each other for a moment, then he turned to put a hand on the doorknob.
"Um," she said.
Sokka paused.
"So...how long will you be in Ba Sing Se?"
"...I leave tomorrow."
"...Oh."
"Yeah."
They looked at each other again. Sokka knew there was something he should be doing right now. But he was tired, and injured.
And he didn't want to become attached to a girl he probably wouldn't ever see again.
"Thanks for helping me get home," he said awkwardly.
"Don't worry about it," she said, equally awkwardly.
"...See you."
Without looking back, he opened the door and entered the house.
Sokka was already asleep when Kalu returned from escorting Jin back to the Lower Ring. But for the next month, not a day went by that he didn't make fun of Sokka for not taking an opportunity when it was gift-wrapped for him.
The Tale of Azula
Azula spent the day practicing her bending.
The Tale of Mongke
"Why is your final sibling in Ba Sing Se? Isn't that the city your family defected from?"
Otori shrugged. "We all hate our parents. I guess we each rebelled in different ways. I became a thief. Jun joined the army. Hiro and Hina became kabuki actors. And Suzue went back to Ba Sing Se."
"Are you sure she'll be willing to join us?"
Otori grinned. "Don't worry. She doesn't have any loyalty to the Earth Kingdom. I guarantee that."
"How do you suggest we get into and out of the city?"
Otori took out a knife and tossed it into the air repeatedly. "I'll just steal ferry tickets for us. To get out, we'll take some soldier outfits. Soldiers go into and out all the time. Easy peasy." He must have looked skeptical, because she tilted her head, grinned even more widely, and said, "You won't regret this. Trust me."
But Mongke was already regretting it as he walked through the dingy, decrepit streets of Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring, thinking of all the ways Otori's plan could go wrong. He had heard very bad things about the ways this city dealt with criminals.
"Alright, this should be it," Otori said. She had asked around for a giant, muscular woman, and they were given directions to this apartment building made of rotting, moldy wood. Unfortunately, they had no idea which apartment she—
"Hey!" Otori shouted. "Suzue! It's Otori! Come on down!"
"What are you doing!?" Mongke whispered fiercely. "We're infiltrating—"
"Suzueeee!"
Mongke looked around wildly, preparing for an incoming attack. A number of people, on the street and in the building, were now staring at them, but none of them seemed about to attack them. Yet.
"Suzue! I'm going to keep shouting until you come see me! Suzu—"
The front door to the building slammed open, and a large figure stood inside it.
Otori had described her as giant and muscular; if anything, that was an understatement. She was so large she didn't even fit inside the doorframe; she was almost forced to bow in order to exit the building. Her black sleeveless shirt and short pants revealed muscles as big as any bodybuilder Mongke had ever seen. Her bare feet clung to the dirt, and her dark, narrow eyes were looking at him impassively. Her hair hung back in a short ponytail.
"Hey, Suzue!" Otori waved. "I came to visit. How've you been?"
Suzue turned around and re-entered the building.
"Alright," Otori said, grabbing his wrist, "we're following her to her room."
"Hey!" Mongke said, feeling a vague embarrassment, "are you sure she wants to—"
"It's fine, it's fine. Trust me." He was nowhere near convinced, but Suzue didn't complain as Otori dragged him after her, so he decided to trust her for now. Besides, there was no way he was going to give up on Suzue this easily after making all this effort to come here. The three of them walked up several flights of stairs and across several halls until Suzue entered a room.
The room was bare. Completely bare. No furniture, no food. The only thing in the room apart from its moldy wooden walls, floor, and ceiling was one set of black clothing piled in a corner. Suzue walked to the opposite side and sat down, staring out the window. With nothing better to do, Mongke and Otori sat behind her.
Nobody spoke for a few minutes.
"Was she always like this?" Mongke whispered to Otori.
"First, no need to whisper. She doesn't care," Otori said in a normal tone of voice, jabbing her thumb at Suzue. "Second, yeah. Pretty much."
Mongke glanced at Suzue, but she was still just looking out the window, not saying anything.
"Anyway. Nice to see you again, Suzue. I joined a mercenary group. This guy's Mongke. He's technically the leader. I'm pretty much the real leader though."
He stared daggers at her. She smiled back innocently. Well, not really; Otori probably couldn't look innocent if her life depended on it.
"Being a mercenary pays a lot of money. You get to fight people a lot. It's basically the perfect job. Jun, Hiro, and Hina are with us too. We all realized you were right and ditched our parents. So. Want in?"
"Um, wait," Mongke said. He gulped. Suzue was still just sitting there, but somehow she seemed to radiate danger, even moreso than Otori did. "Suzue. If you don't mind my asking, why are you here in Ba Sing Se? What do you do?"
"Nothing."
"Huh?"
"I do nothing." Suzue's voice was low and rumbling; Mongke couldn't help but think of dragons. "I'm here because nobody bothers me."
"You do...nothing?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Otori grinning at him. "Then how do you make money?"
"I don't."
"But...then how do you get food?"
"I don't."
Otori was grinning so much it looked like her face was about to split. He was half-convinced they were screwing with him. "Explain," he whispered to Otori.
"Suzue was the first of us to leave home," Otori said, not whispering. Suzue showed no reaction. "Years passed. Nobody heard hide nor hair. We all thought she was dead. Then we got a letter." She stood up and started twirling a knife. "Your family's peasants, right? How much did you learn about the Avatar?"
He was a bit startled by the change in subject, but managed to hide it. "They can bend all the elements. They reincarnate. Um...something about spirits? To be honest I never really cared."
"The one benefit of a noble family. They have money to hire the best tutors." Now she was twirling knives in both hands. "The Avatar is the fusion of a human and a spirit. That's the source of their power. And so is Suzue."
"What!?" He stared at Suzue, his apprehension steadily growing.
"Yup. She didn't tell us how or why." Otori looked at Suzue, but no explanation seemed to be forthcoming. She shrugged, knives still twirling. "But as a result, she doesn't need food or water. She doesn't sleep. And her body's really tough. Or so the letter said. Mind if I test it out?"
Suzue remained silent (of course), which Otori seemed to take as permission as she sauntered toward her sister. Then she raised a knife, and before Mongke could stop her plunged it into Suzue's neck—
And it snapped in half. Mongke yelped and covered his face, but luckily the blade didn't hit him. When he removed his arms, he didn't see a single mark on Suzue's skin. Otori tossed the broken knife in front of him, giggling like a maniac. Which she was.
"See, Mongke?" she said when she stopped laughing, wiping tears from her eyes. "I was right, right? You don't regret coming here."
Mongke stared at Suzue, and remembered something. When he was young, he had wanted more than anything to get away from the boring, meaningless lives of the peasantry. He had begged an old man in the village to teach him letters and devoured every book he could find, as that was the only thing that gave him any emotional reaction at all. One of the particularly interesting books was about emotions themselves, and there was a chapter on what it called the sublime. It went something like, people feel the sublime when something causes so much astonishment, fear, or wonder that your entire mind is filled with it so you can think of nothing else.
Most of his emotions were dull and faded, as if he were looking at them through a small window or keyhole. But looking at Suzue, this apparent spirit/human hybrid whose skin can break knives, for the first time he thought that maybe he was actually capable of feeling.
"Well, Suzue?" Otori said. "You up for joining us?"
Finally, Suzue turned away from the window. She looked straight at Mongke, her stare boring holes into his skull.
"Nothing in this world matters," she said. Then she faced Otori, and her expression softened, just a little. "But I am curious about how everyone's doing."
Otori jabbed her in the stomach with her elbow, and grinned at Mongke. "She doesn't look it, but she's a softy at heart. The opposite of me, really." She giggled like a maniac again, and Mongke felt a smile creep to his lips too.
He had once wanted to be a scholar, he remembered. Somewhere along the way, he'd forgotten that. But with this new team, he might be able to make enough money to retire soon, and he'd be able to finally pursue that old dream.
First things first, though. This assignment to Admiral Zhao was the best one he'd ever gotten. If they impressed him, they'd be set.
As the three of them walked out of the building and prepared to ambush some Earth Kingdom soldiers and steal their outfits, for some reason Mongke kept thinking of the sensation when Otori grabbed his wrist.
End Chapter 10
Author's Notes: Jin is the girl Zuko went on a date with in the original "Tales of Ba Sing Se." The bit about the "sublime" is a (very rough) summary of what Edmund Burke says in his book A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful.
This was one of my favorite episodes of the original series, and I hope I did it justice here.