They travelled on towards the inner wall. The city was enormous. Far greater than any city they had ever seen before. As they landed somewhere where it seemed ok to do so, they were greeted by a oddly grinning Lady. "Hello. My name is Joo Dee." She greeted them. "I have been given the great honour of showing the Avatar around Ba Sing Se. And you must be Sokka, Katara, Zuko and Toph." She went on, facing each of them by mentioning their name "Welcome to our wonderful city. Shall we get started?" "Yes." Sokka stated "We have information about the Firenation-Armee that we need to deliver to the Earthking immediately." "Great. Let's begin our tour." Joo Dee smiled "And then I'll show you to your new home here. I think you like it."

Sokka huffed and hurried after Joo Dee. "Maybe you've missed what I've said." He stated "We need to talk to the King about the war. It's important." "You are in Ba Sing Se now. Everyone is safe here." Joo Dee explained. They were put in a wagon while Appa was following behind. Joo Dee gave them information about the city as they passed. They also were informed that Ba Sing Se had many walls. The ones outside were for protection and the ones inside were to maintain order. The newest arrivals, the craftsmen and artists lived in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se. It seemed pretty run down and poor, as well as dangerous. The middle ring looked a lot better. It was the financial district with a lot of restaurants and the university. They stopped at the town-hall of the middle ring. As Joo Dee left the wagon, Sokka complained about her only hearing every other word he said. "It's called being handled." Toph sighed "Get used to it."

They went on soon enough. The upper ring was even more pretty than the middle one. It was home to the "most important" citizens. Also their house would be there. They also passed the walls of the royal palace that was guarded by the Dai Li agents, who were the cultural authority of Ba Sing Se, guardians of all traditions of the city. Whatever that meant. "Can we see the king now?" Aang asked. "Oh no." Joo Dee laughed "One does not just pop in on the earthking." They finally halted at a house which Joo Dee called their home. Also she received a note, telling them that their request for an audience with the earthking is being processed and should be put through in about six to eight weeks. Of course none of them was happy about that. It even made them less happy that Joo Dee wasn't going to leave them out of her sight.

It was late evening Joo Dee finally left them. Until now they had found out that people reacted wired, as soon as they had mentioned the war in any way. It made them suspicious. So Sokka went to speak with one of their neighbors to find out what was wrong. Though the guy only told them that they weren't allowed to mention the war and that they should stay clean of the Dai Li. They got food some time later, and that was kind of nice, but they all felt kind of trapped. Zuko nearly prayed to Agni that night that Joo Dee was going to let them alone the next few days.

The next morning Katara came into the house with great news. She had found information about the King's party for his pet-bear. That it only said bear irritated most of them a bit. She planned on sneaking in with the crowd. Though Toph was sure it wouldn't work, since they had no manners. Katara hit back that Toph's behaviour was far worse than her own, but Toph told her that she had learned proper fancy behaviour but chose to leave it. Katara on the other hand never learned it. "You learned it, you could teach us." Sokka suggested. "Yeah, I'm learning every element, how hard can manners be?" Aang decided, snatching the curtain from its place, using it as a cape. "Good evening, Mister Sokka, Watertribe, Miss Katara Watertribe, Lord Momo of the Momodynasty, your Momones." He said, trying to sound noble.

Sokka copied him at once. "Avatar Aang, how you do go on?" Sokka asked. Aang bowed to him, and so did Sokka, and then they did it at the same time, banging their heads. "Katara might pull it off, but you two would be lucky to pass as busboys." Toph commented. "But I feel so fancy." Sokka stated. "You do not look fancy." Zuko commented drily "You are far too over the edge. And you pull faces all the time. Despite I haven't once seen you eat politely. Not even at the Northern watertribe-banquet…" "And you can be fancy?" Sokka hissed. "He should." Katara sighed "He is a Prince…" "Point taken…" Sokka huffed. So the day was spent with going through their new wardrobes, getting their hair in order, putting up make up and teaching the not nobles at least some sort of courtesy. "I feel sooo fancy now." Aang decided, after Zuko had unsuccessfully tried to teach him how to walk.

In the evening they were ready, and Zuko left with the two girls for the party. They planned on letting the others in through the side-gate. Although their plan had seemed so perfect, they didn't manage to get through the gate, since they had no invitation. Even Toph's passport wouldn't help. "Our parents are waiting inside." Also didn't help much. "Know what… we will just get ourselves some invitation…" Zuko decided, as they were sent out of the line. He snuck into the shadows and waited, until a couple came by. The female had the paper-scroll loosely stuck in her purse and Zuko managed to liberate it with a quick move. So they got back into line again. Soon later they were inside.

"Good. Now we need to find a way to let in the others…" Zuko muttered. They found the others already inside, dressed as servants. "Good plan…" Zuko complimented them. "Another crème-puff, please." Toph commented. Unluckily Joo Dee found them as well. She tried to convince them to leave, but by doing so, she unluckily pushed Sokka, who pushed into aang, who carried a can with liquids, sending its contents onto a lady standing close, soaking her. Aang immediately bended her dry, but ruining her dress, her makeup and her hair in the process. Luckily she was only overly excited of meeting the Avatar. As his name was said, suddenly everyone became quiet and stared and suddenly the smile disappeared out of Joo Dee's face.

Sokka made up a new plan of Aang distracting the crowd, while the rest was supposed to look for the king. So as Aang started to make bending-tricks, the others silently snuck away. Then suddenly a seat was carried in, covered by a thin veil only showing the outlines of a figure. It was set down in the middle of the hind-wall. "Aang, the earthking!" Sokka hissed to his still bending friend. But as Aang hurried towards the seat, the soldiers picked it back up and carried it away, while others went to collect the members of Team Avatar. "Let go off me!" Zuko hissed at the guys who snatched him from out of the crowd. But they wouldn't listen. Together with Sokka, Toph and Katara he was pushed out of the hall and into another room. They were re-joined there by Aang.

They also met the Grand secretary Long Feng, who was head of the Dai Li. Sokka complained about not being let to the earthking, for they had important that could defeat the Firenation. But Long Feng explained that the Earthking had no time for such things military problems, his only concerns was the cultural heritage of the city. Long Feng was concerned with all the other parts. "So the king is just a figure-head." Katara summarized. But Long Feng also didn't want to hear anything about their plan. The strict policy of the city forbade mentioning the war within the walls, so Ba Sing Se would stay a peaceful utopia. "Let's go…" Zuko sighed. "Come on, this isn't worth it…" Joo Dee was sent to bring them back home and they were warned to not cause any more trouble. Though who was coming in didn't look like Joo Dee. As Katara asked where Joo Dee was, the new female told them that she was Joo Dee and she would be their host for the time they would stay in Ba Sing Se.