Disclaimer: See Chapter 10.

Special thanks to my beta, Lavanya Six!


The Adventures of Avatar Azula

An Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic


"Look, Joo Dee. I'd love to have you follow me around and observe me for a month, don't get me wrong, 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."

Azula saw the woman's struggles vibrate down through the giant stone fist gripping her.

"I'm not exactly a patient person, Joo Dee."


Chapter 11

The Tales of Ba Sing Se


After a surprisingly productive conversation 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. She just had to agree not to let the city's citizen's know anything about the war. And put her full support behind him gaining full dominion over the city. And promise to get 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. And "as much as possible" was a rather flexible concept.

In any event, three of the four main anti-Fire Nation forces were now allied, more or less. The Southern Water Tribe, Omashu, and Ba Sing Se were prepared to launch an invasion together. Only the Northern Water Tribe remained.

Azula wanted to head out 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 Azula decided to consider giving in as 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, chest out, head held high.

He had first joined Azula out of a desire 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 grass-covered hill started looking a lot like the last grass-covered 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 thought, 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 was interested in him, Sokka put on a confident air and swaggered over to them.

"Hey, ladies. I saw you looking at me." This caused the girls to giggle even louder. Taking that to be a good sign, Sokka went on. "I know I must be very…exotic," he intoned, slicking his hair back, "so what say we go somewhere so I can tell you about…where I'm from?"

"Sorry, but I'm not interested in hearing about swamps," one of them said, and they all broke out into raucous laughter. Before he could respond, they barreled past him. 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 before slapping 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 varying degrees of politeness).

Needless to say, the experience was somewhat damaging to his natural sense of optimism.

By the end of the afternoon, Sokka had somehow wandered into the Lower Ring. Tired but not hungry, he entered a tea shop he saw out of the corner of his eye and ordered a cup.

In the middle of drinking what he felt was rather bland tea, he heard a voice next to him say, "Well, you look rather ragged."

A rather pretty Earth Kingdom girl was now sitting next to him, with pigtails, green eyes, and some fairly large…other features. She was smiling.

Sokka 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, pushing it around a little with his fingers, still not quite believing what was happening. "Yeah, well, I'm not exactly an expert on tea anyway."

"You certainly sound like a barrel of sunshine."

Sokka sighed. "Sorry. I've just had a bad day."

He glanced 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, looking at him inquisitively. "Mm," she said, "I've had those." She started tapping her fingers on the table. For some reason, Sokka's throat suddenly became dry, and he downed the rest of the tea in one gulp. The girl giggled. "Finished?"

Sokka wiped the tea's remains from his mouth. "Yeah. 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, and lead her out of the building holding hands. In reality, Sokka stuttered for a bit before saying "Sure" in a nervous 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


Kalu was curious about what Earth Kingdom medicine was like. So early in the morning, he strolled to the Ba Sing Se Hospital.

And strolled out a few minutes later, fighting back the urge to vomit. There were hoards of people in there, groaning in pain, the bandages wrapped around them failing to stop the leakage of blood. Some of them were missing arms, some legs. When he finally saw a doctor, the man was closing an open wound by burning it shut. Kalu had had no idea that doctoring without waterbending was so…so barbaric.

So the hospital was out, and he was left standing in the middle of a street in the Middle Ring, having no idea what to do next.

He shrugged. He was on vacation—there wasn't anything in particular he had to do. Smiling, he set off in a random direction, lazily taking in the city's sights.

He was jolted out of his daydreaming by a man who roughly shoved him aside, almost causing Kalu 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 shrinking figure. The man was over twenty feet away, but he was stupidly running in a straight line, so it was child's play to hit him.

Kalu didn't enjoy hearing the scream of pain, but he didn't not enjoy it, either.

Humming to himself, Kalu casually strode over to the thief, who still hadn't recovered from the shock of receiving a knife to the back. He was trying to stand up when Kalu reached him.

"You…you could've killed me!" he gasped.

Kalu made a dismissive noise. "Only if I had hit you in the throat. And that was very unlikely." Putting his foot on the thief's back, he pulled the knife out with a squelch, causing another scream of pain. "Oh, calm down. It's not even deep." While he waterbent some liquid 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 behind him and saw the woman from before, her face filled with gratitude. "How can I ever repay you?"

Hmm…she was blushing now, and not meeting his eyes. Not just gratitude, then. She clearly had a preferred repayment method in mind already.

With a sly smile, he reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of silver coins. "This is my usual fee for treating a battle wound. It should 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.

After a few seconds, in the tone of an afterthought, he called out over his shoulder, "You should probably deliver that man to the proper authorities."


The Tale of Naya


Naya sighed as she lay back in her tub, savoring the cold water. Not for the first time, her thoughts drifted to the South Pole.

Her husband, like most men 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 duty to train the Avatar and escort her around the world, she assumed it wouldn't be so bad to be away from her family.

She was wrong. Being on a different continent was completely different. 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 crazy. She was prepared for death; every Southern Water Tribesman was. But she couldn't handle not knowing.

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. Without knowing exactly what to do, Naya walked 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, 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. That goes for both you and the kid." He yanked his arm out of her grasp and continued walking.

Naya spared him a brief glance of disdain, then looked back at the girl. She 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 an arm on her shoulder. "Hello. Are you lost?"

The girl just wailed some more, not looking at her.

Naya frowned some more. She wasn't good with kids. As was customary in the South, her own son had been raised by his grandparents while she and her husband were off protecting the tribe. She had never really learned the best way 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 figure out how to make the girl shut up and listen to her, but her mind was coming up with nothing.

Finally, she resorted to the only thing she could think of, and bent some water into the girl's face.

That, at least, got her attention.

"Did you get separated from your parents?"

Tears falling, adding to the water already on her face, the girl nodded. "I can't find my mommy."

Naya nodded. She had assumed as much. "Well, why don't you tell me where your house is?"

The girl shook her head so quickly her hair whipped back and forth. "She won't be there."

Naya blinked. "Okay…where would she be?"

The girl reached into her pocket and fished out a piece of paper, worn and smudged from use. 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 her tears, that her mother had told her to meet at that address, but she got lost along the way and couldn't figure out where to go. Naya thought it was strange that a parent would let their small child walk 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 showed the guard there 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 of the city, but it also helped convince people in the city to do what you wanted. Nobody wanted to displease a person under the favor of Long Feng.

When the guard read the address, he looked at the two of them oddly, but gave them easy-to-follow directions, and soon they were off.

Talking to Hua was an interesting experience. The girl could have thoughts and carry on a decent conversation, but her opinions and worldview were almost incomprehensible to Naya. For example, despite being miserable to the point of shutting out the world just a few minutes ago, now she was 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 expression on her little face as she deliberately walked to the cemetery's gate. The man there waved her in as soon as he saw her, and 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 Earth Kingdom citizens buried their dead, but this was the first time she had seen the results. Looking at the simple stone tablets, knowing each of them represented the corpse of someone beloved, was a strange feeling.

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 blizzard.

As a Southern Water Tribesman, she was prepared for death. Her own father had died when she was young, though not as young as Hua. Death might be tragic, but it was also inevitable—Naya had never seen the need to mourn for it.

And yet, at that point in time, she would have given 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 why 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 wearing expensive-looking clothes walking alone did attract the good kind of attention. People attempted to rob her no less than three times that morning. Needless to say, she made them regret it.

More interesting was what happened 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 ran up and surrounded her.

"What's this?" she asked, a smile on her face. "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 then, what are you waiting for? Ask your questions."

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?"

Toph 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.

Evidently not to the leader, though, because he made a scoffing sound. "Any idiot with brute strength can do something like 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 Toph could easily detect a strong undercurrent of admiration. "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."

Toph tilted her head. "So what's in it for me?"

"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."

She couldn't suppress a smile 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. Feet scuffled, and Toph could tell from the vibrations that everyone was facing 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 the skirts of your protector, 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 before it reached them.

They were earthbenders.

Now this is getting interesting. A plan soon formed in Toph's mind.

"Hey! Why'd you attack us, too!" Peng sounded betrayed. Which, to be fair, he was.

"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," she 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 encased 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 guys. But whether it was stubbornness or something else, 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, causing it to 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 gave it 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."

After saying that, 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 thought, the best way to make up was to fight alongside each other. Her plan went off without a hitch—even Azula would've been proud. Maybe.

Toph smiled. Doing stuff like this sometimes is okay, too.


The Tale of Sokka (part 2)


After telling Jin he was a new arrival—not technically a lie, even though he did lead her to believe 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 ordinary 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 in confusion. Jin's face was contorted into a grimace. "My boyfriend," she muttered.

"You have a boyfriend!"

They didn't have the chance to say anything else before the boyfriend in question approached them. He didn't look significantly older than Sokka, but he was much bigger—at least a head taller, and far more muscular. Sokka gulped involuntarily.

"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 hanging around another man!"

"Hey!" Sokka said, rising to his feet, "if the lady says it's not your business, it's not your business."

Chen turned toward him now, and Sokka involuntary shrank back a bit at the larger boy's rage-filled face. "You shut up," Chen growled. "I'll deal with you later."

"You won't be dealing with anyone, Chen!" Jin was standing up now, too, and she sounded as angry as her boyfriend.

Chen turned back to her. "I went to your place hours ago, but your parents told me you had gone out to get a quick cup of tea. I wait for a half hour, go out looking for you, and find you running around with some village boy!"

"Who are you calling a village boy!" 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 pissed off at someone else 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 found objectionable about the other. He was about to back away slowly when Chen grabbed Jin's wrist roughly.

"Come on, Jin, we're leaving."

"Let go of me."

"I said, we're leaving."

"And I said, let go—"

"You shut up!" Chen turned around, and while Sokka didn't know what he was about to do, he didn't intend to find out. He tackled the other boy 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 stopping himself, pulling out his boomerang—and receiving a foot in the chest, sending 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 his father's first rule of combat, remain calm at all times, and was paying for it now. His stomach burned—Chen had kicked him hard—and the rest of his body was severely aching from the violent impact.

As the world started coming into focus again, Chen was 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 who some of my father's friends are," 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 chagrined at needing the assistance of a girl, much less a girl that had just saved his ass, but he bowed to necessity. "How do you feel?" she asked, worry in her voice.

Sokka chuckled meekly. "What do you think?"

Jin lowered her eyes. "Sorry."

He felt bad. "No, sorry, it's ok. 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—"

Jin smiled wider, and 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 on his face. 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. That didn't stop his stomach from sinking 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, and by chance at that. 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 asked in a hushed voice.

"To the gate."

"But—" She was cut off when Sokka began fishing in his clothing, before pulling out the pass Long Feng had given them. When she saw it, Jin's eyes grew wide.

When he saw the pass, the guard at the gate nodded and earthbent it open. He technically wasn't supposed to let Jin in too, but he didn't say anything when they both passed through the opening. 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 became able to 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 his house before Sokka finished.

Jin shook her head in amazement. "A Water Tribe colleague of the Avatar…"

Sokka nodded, unsure of what to say.

Suddenly, though, her face brightened and she grinned. "I thought you were a little too dark for it to be just a tan. And I'd never seen anyone with blue eyes before."

They laughed the remainder of the way to his 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 looked at each other for a moment, then he turned to put a hand on the door.

"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 his 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.


End Chapter 11


Author's Notes: Poor Jin. It seems it's her fate to be a girl-of-the-week for various main characters. But maybe she should look on the bright side: at least it wasn't Azula.

This was a fun chapter to write. I hope it was even more fun to read!