In the aftermath of the riots, life in Yuansu City had changed dramatically. The bill that had allowed safe passage between the districts was on its way to being repealed and a strict curfew had been imposed. No one was allowed pass a 10 o'clock, apart from students, who had to be off the streets by 8 o'clock, and late-night workers who needed to carry special cards to avoid arrest. To make matters worse, hundreds of students were being pulled out of Issho Academy and sent to schools in their respective districts; their parents were afraid that they had made a terrible mistake sending thier children to the school that had quickly seemed to become a target. A brave few were still holding on stubbornly to the notion that people of each district should get along.
After the nearly dying in a car crash, Katara was sent to live with her grandparents to recuperate. It was late afternoon one Sunday, several weeks after the crash. Her ribs were almost completely healed and didn't hurt anymore, and her leg was completely healed, just awkward to move around again. She was still in bed, after taking a nap, when Aang came to visit her. He sat at the edge of her bed while she shirted into a sitting position.
"Feeling better?" he asked cheerfully, smiling brightly.
"A little." She smiled weakly. "I suppose I should get up but…"
"No problem, Katara." Aang interrupted "I can help you do anything you need to do."
"Aang, slow down." Katara laughed "I'm down, not out." She awkwardly stumbled out of bed and Aang stood up after her. "But if you want, you can help me clean up the basement; it stinks down there and I don't want Master Pakku catching anything when he's down there since he's too lazy to do it himself."
"That doesn't seem like much fun." Aang whined playfully.
Katara kissed his cheek, "Please? I'm sure it won't be too bad."
"Fine." He acquiesced to please his girlfriend as she led him downstairs.
The basement was a small, tight, hot little room that was coated in a thick layer of grey dust. Old dog-eared books and magazines were tossed around haphazardly. Odd nick-nacks and odds-and-ends were placed in bookshelves. An old-fashioned, green dress that had once been eye-catching hung on a nail in the back of the room, unnoticed and unwanted. A broken crib lay in pieces beneath the dress; in it, lay a well-worn fabric doll in a torn gingham dress.
While tidying up in the basement, Aang stumbled over a small, dark grey briefcase. It was peeling and falling apart. The thick layer of dust seemed to be painted on; something told Aang that grey had not been it's original color. He looked at it closly, but it didn't look like much but a dirty rectangle.
"What's this?" he wondered, lifting it into the light to get a better view, the ancient dust staining his fingers.
"Let me see that." Katara brushed off some of the dust with a grey rag and saw K. Shimizu faintly embroidered on the front. "It's my uncle's. His name was Kang Shimizu. I never met him before because he was killed before I was born. Sokka might remember him but he was really young when it happened."
"Why would anyone go after him?"
"I have no idea." Katara answered "My mom used to tell me stories about him, how he was all goofy and smart at the same time, how girls seemed to love and how he seemed like a dork but was one of the coolest guys around. I wish I got to know him; all I have are stories."
"That sounds familiar, like someone I know." Aang thought aloud. "But I can't put my finger on it."
Katara's mood dropped quickly. "I miss my mom." She declared suddenly "She was my best friend."
"What happened to her?"
"She died in a fire set by raiders. I was only eight years old." Her eyes started to mist over. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Aang took her hand in his and looked at her with concerned grey eyes "Sorry. I get a bit emotional when I think about my mom. Really, I'm fine."
"That's okay." Aang was glad to know she was alright. He didn't release her hand "Was your uncle a lawyer or something?"
"Yeah, but he was into a lot of things: music, politics, old detective shows, and especially food." She smiled a little. "I heard he was quirky like that."
"Weird, I've never heard of a 'quirky' lawyer." Aang laughed. Katara joined him.
As they continued cleaning, they came across several items thought of be lost or stolen or simply forgotten. Toys, books, jewelry, scraps of clothing. While picking up a broken record, Aang looked back at the Kang Yang's briefcase. He set the record down and began examining it closer, trying to open it.
"Aang, what are you doing?" Katara looked up from the dust-covered green dress. Avoiding the broken crib, she moved over to where Aang fidgeted with the briefcase.
"I'm trying to see if I can open-oh, got it!"
Katara stopped dusting an old painting and leaned over his shoulder. "What's in it?" she asked.
Aang sat down on the dusty floor and, with Katara standing over him, began to leaf through the various legal documents. "Lawyer stuff."
"What a surprise!" Katara cried in false shock. "Let's put that back and finish cleaning this mess."
"Hold on, look at this." Aang insisted, pulling out a small, handwritten note "It's a note from your uncle."
It was a old, crumpled piece of yellowing paper, with one side torn as if it had been ripped out of book; the handwriting erratic and hard to read, as if Kang wrote while having a seizure. Aang handed it to his girlfriend and she read it aloud.
To my beloved friend, Atsuo Gao:
Atsuo, I have uncovered some disturbing news regarding the bill M.T.B.. The proposer, Sozin Qing Long, appears to have affiliations with Atsushi Zhang, the self-proclaimed leader of the raiders. I think this bill has something to do with the attacks that have been plaguing the city recently. He used the raids to win the support of the people in Huo. His son, Azulon, appears to be keeping the family tradition alive by adding amendments that will keep police from arresting someone for a crime committed in a district that they don't belong to. Meet me on corner of Wang St. and Yao Ave. Saturday night at 7 p.m. to discuss this. Bring Anika if you can find her. We need to fight this.
Your friend, Kang Shimizu
"What does that mean?" Katara wondered.
"It means that the bill should never have been made into a law. Azulon Qing Long manipulated his own people to hurt other people." Aang stood up furiously, took the letter from her hand, and began to read it for himself.
"So the raiders would be able to attack anyone they pleased and never get in trouble for it." Katara was so angry, she bit her lip.
"But I've never heard of this amendment." Aang was confused for a moment.
"It probably never got passed." Katara muttered, still furious "Good thing."
"So this Sozin guy is the reason people are afraid to hang with people in a different part of the city." As the words came out of his mouth, Aang suddenly became aware of stupid they sounded. His childhood teachers had taught that people from Huo, people from Shui, and people from Diqui would never get along with him because they were too different and he had once believed them. But thinking back…man! This is where that idea came from-from some crazy politician with an ulterior motive.
Aang ran her hand through his short, black hair and sighed. "This letter is years old; it doesn't mean anything now."
"Maybe it does." Katara said "The letter said something about 'family tradition'. If the bill was already passed, why would there be a need to continue the raids for all those years unless it was a way of keeping the Qing Longs in power; they've won every election in Huo since Sozin's time."
"If they had a raider connection, wouldn't they advertise it so that Huo people would know who to vote for?"
"No; connections to organized crime is illegal but saying you support it isn't. It's genius. It's awful, but genius."
"And people buy into that?" Aang shook his head "We need to tell someone."
"They won't believe us." Katara answered miserable "Besides, it's mostly just a theory."
"It's worth looking into." Aang insisted.
"Aang, I don't know if you've noticed, but we're fifteen. Who's going take us seriously if we say that a hundred years ago, a well-respected council member used violence to take over part of the city?"
He paused for a minute "If we get enough evidence, we can build a case."
"A case? You want to sue someone a dead man?"
"No, it's like you said-tradition. If we can prove that Sozin started the use of the raiders in elections, we can prove that whoever's in charge now…"-"Ozai Qing Long"-"…Yeah him. We might be able to prove that he still uses it. You said it yourself; connections to criminal organizations are illegal. We can finally get justice for everything that family's done to the city."
Katara inhaled sharply. 'How could a simple chore bring me to a political conspiracy?' she thought to herself.
"Katara?"
"You're right, Aang. We need to tell someone about this." A second later, the front door upstairs slammed open. "C'mon."
They went upstairs to find that Sokka had come for a visit. "Where are Gran-Gran and Master Pakku?"
"They went out." Katara replied. "What are you doing here?"
"I just came to see if you were doing alright." Sokka answered.
Katara smiled a little "I fine, but I'd be better if could go home."
"Dad said you can move back in a few days."
"I don't get why you didn't have to come." Katara huffed.
Sokka answered "You're the sick, injured girl. Everyone wants you to be safe."
"Right," Aang added sarcastically "Sick girls are always the prettiest; that's why everyone wants to take care of them."
"Oh, my," Katara faked coughed several time "How can I go on in my condition? 'cough, cough' I'm wasting away…" she fake fainted into Aang arms "My love 'cough' don't forget me." They all burst out laughing at her unconvincing "death".
"How!" Sokka gasped in an overdramatic tone "How I could I let my dear, sweet baby sister die? How could I never tell her I love her? How could I forget to close the front door?"
"Sokka, you're so ridiculous!" Katara laughed as she "resurrected" "That's why I love that you're my brother; you always make me laugh."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for." He shrugged.
Aang suddenly remembered what they had been planning to tell him. Her put his hand on Katara's shoulder and whispered in her ear "Should we tell him now?"
Instantly, the atmosphere changed, the jovial mood vanished, and Katara stiffened.
"Tell me what?" Sokka noticed the sudden change. Surprised, he looked back and forth between his sister and his best friend. "What?"
"We found thing of Uncle Kang's in the basement today." Katara explained.
"Okay, so?"
"It has something to do with the raiders." Aang continued, noticing the change in Sokka expression, "We think Kang might have know about some connection between them and the council of Huo."
Sokka scoffed "I don't like those stuffy politicians anymore than the next guy, but do you really think they have something to do with all the raider attacks? What do they possible have to gain from sending random people to attack other random people?"
"It's a nationalism thing" Katara argued "Soft-of. A hundred years is when the raids began. At that same time, Azulon Qing Long won a seat on the city council."
"So?" Sokka remained skeptical. "What does that prove?"
"Nothing-yet. We need to find proof." Aang finished.
"Proof? Proof! Do you guys realize that what you're doing is completely insane? You want to go back a hundred years to prove that some guy might have sent some guys to attack people to help his political career. Do you realize how insane that sounds?"
"Yes we do." Katara insisted passionately "But if there's that slighted chance that this is true… Uncle Kang wrote that letter because he knew that something was going down." Slowly, a sick realization sank in "And someone knew that he knew. That's why he was killed."
Her throat tightened and she felt sick. Sicker than she had been since she had felt upon hearing the news of Yue's death. Sicker than when she had been kidnapped in the parking lot. Her uncle tried to do the right thing and because of some sick Huo logic, she never got to meet him. Anger like she'd never felt burned through her veins and radiated from her skin like the glow of lantern.
"Katara, are you okay," Sokka, still trying to process the new assessment of his uncle death, was shocked (and frankly, a little scared) at the change in his sister. "What's wrong?"
How light the mood was when he walked in…how quickly the whole thing turned bitter.
"We don't have a mother or an uncle because of this man. Sokka, do you still think this isn't worth looking into."
Sokka sighed and put his hands on her shoulders "I don't know where you're going, but I'm going with you."
"So am I." Aang declared. He took her hand and pulled them both into a group hug.
"Thanks guys." Katara said gratefully when they pulled away.
"So where do we start?" Sokka asked.
"With the people Uncle Kang was trying to contact."
Atsuo Gao. Anika
"Who do you think think they were?" Sokka asked.
"I don't know." Katara asked. "We can ask Gran-Gran if she anyone with those names."
"Friends? Maybe coworkers?" Aang suggested.
Katara thought about it for a second. "Whoever these people were, he trusted them, so we can trust them. If we can find them."
"Wait," Sokka said "What if we can't. What if they had something to do with his death."
"The note was in his briefcase and nobody's opened it since he left it in his room the morning he died. They probably never got the letter." Katara argued softly.
"So?" Sokka remained skeptical.
"He didn't give them any information. What reason would they have to betray him?"
"What reason do we have to believe they didn't kill him for some other reason?" Sokka shot back.
"He was killed by raiders." Katara screamed "Friends don't just betray each other."
Aang stepped in between them, "Hold on guys. Let's not speculate anything yet. We need to find out who Atsuo Gao and Anika were, then we can start making theories. We can't believe anything until we have the facts."
"Aang's right." Katara reined in her temper, "We need to get the facts first."
"Fine, whatever." Sokka muttered.