Chap. 25

Kyla's New Helpers

"Roh? Hey Roh where are you?" Baku yelled as he walked through the hallways of the palace.

"Dammit, why did this place have to be so big?" Baku muttered to himself as he kept walking. "This would've been easier in the Water… well maybe not." Baku corrected himself as he turned the corner. But so lost was in his one sided argument that he failed to notice the person on the other side of the wall…. Until he walked into them.

"Uhh!" the duo went as they walked into each other. Baku went back, landing hard on his rear. Shaking his head, Baku looked over to see Riku and Ty Lee slowly getting to their feet.

"Going somewhere?" Riku asked, as he got up and extended his hand to Ty Lee.

"Sorry. I guess I wasn't watching out." Baku said sheepishly.

"Aw don't worry. I fell down a bunch of times in the circus." Ty Lee said. "It was fun."

"Er…right." Riku said.

"How did your searches for the Keyhole go?" Baku asked.

"Not good." Riku said with a sigh. "My Keyblade didn't react to any of the places Zuko thought up."

"Aw don't feel bad." Ty Lee said, her smile blinding as usual. "We found a few spots for you to check out tomorrow. I'm sure the Keyhole will be in one of them."

"I hope you're right." Riku said. "But in the meantime, maybe we can give speedy here a little help."

"That'd be great, but I don't know if you can." Baku said. "I've been looking for Roh, but this place is so big, I don't know where to start."

"Oh I can help you out there." Ty Lee said. "Azula told me she was going to help him with Firebending this morning. I'll bet that he's still out there with her."

"Oh great. Which way is the training ground?" Baku asked.

Ty Lee started to ask, but before she could get more then a few words out, the trio heard the sound of someone stomping down the hall, then turned to see Roh angrily making his way towards them.

"Well, that was convenient." Riku said. "Hey Roh, we were just talking about you."

"Whoopitidy doo." Roh muttered as he walked past them. Baku and Ty Lee's eyes narrowed, but Riku actually reached out and grabbed the boy by the shoulder.

"Lemme guess. Training didn't go well." He said.

"Oh great. It's spread around already?" Roh snapped.

"It doesn't need to. You stomping around here will do it." Riku said. "Look, Ty Lee mentioned that you were training with your aunt, and seeing you like this told me everything. Now, how bad was it?"

"…. Bad enough."

"Then you're doing fine." Riku said. "Sora and I spend most of our time pushing each other to our limits and past. Sometimes I win, and sometimes he does. And when I lose, I hate him for a while, but then I decide that I've got to get better and beat him next time. So you should try the same thing, huh?"

Roh was quiet a minute, then took a deep breath and nodded his acceptance. Turning to Ty Lee and Baku, he said, "Sorry about that. You guys said you needed me for something?"

"Actually I do." Baku said. "I need to know where Kyla is. And since she's been hanging out with you the last couple days…"

"Kyla?" Roh said. "I think she's been in the library."

"The library? Why there?" Riku asked.

"She said she wanted to look up some history on Ozai, see if there was anything that might help predict his next move."

"That doesn't make sense." Riku said. "Your father has more then enough people doing that for him now."

"Well, maybe she wants to feel like she's doing something." Baku suggested. "Still, I haven't seen her in a few days. It can't be healthy for her to spend that much time looking up Ozai."

"I agree." Riku said. "You spend too much time looking at the darkness, some of it gets in there. Let's just see what she's up to and go from there."

"Sounds good." Roh said. "C'mon, the library's this way."

"Hello?" Ty Lee said, as she pushed open the large doors to the library. "Anybody in here?"

"Ty Lee, aren't you supposed to be quiet in a library?" Riku said.

"Oh right. Sorry." Ty Lee said, putting a hand over her mouth.

"Doesn't matter much here." Baku said, as he walked into the huge room. The bookcases seemed to stretch all the way up to heaven and back, filled with enough books to light the Water Tribe for years.

"How much stuff is kept in here?" he asked.

"According to the Sages, the history of the Fire Nation since it's inception. And most of the world too." Roh said, as he walked in.

"Maybe a few other worlds too." Riku said, looking around. As he did, he came across two stacks of books near an empty bookcase.

"Roh, are people allowed in here a lot?" he asked.

"Most. The generals and the Royal Family are allowed in. But Dad lets in scholars from time to time."

"Any recently?" Riku asked, moving over to the bookcase. Picking up one of the books on the stack, he flipped through it, and then put it down.

"No, nobody recently." Roh said. "And nobody else would have that many books out at once. What is that stuff?"

"You guys should come look at this." Riku said. "If Kyla's reading this, I think that something is seriously up."

The two boys and Ty Lee looked at each other, and then walked over to the stack. Each of them carefully removed a book and looked over its contents. And when they did, they looked up at Riku in confusion. He just nodded, and pulled out another book, showing them what it was. One by one, the four of them went through the books and saw the same thing repeated over and over.

"I don't get it. What is Kyla doing with this stuff?" Ty Lee said, as she put the book down. "I mean, this isn't going to tell us anything."

"Don't look at me." Riku said. "This is your world, not mine."

"I think I might know." Baku said grimly. "And if I'm right, Kyla has been hiding something major from us."

"What is it?" Roh said.

So Baku cleared his throat and told the others of his theory. They listened first with curiosity, then amazement, then questions.

"But if what you're saying is right," Riku said. "Then Kyla could…"

"Yeah." Baku said. "But I don't know how we're going to ever get her to talk about it. She's pretty stubborn."

"Maybe Luz or Oscuridad could help." Roh said. "They can tell when people are telling the truth. Maybe they could….."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

The foursome whirled around to see Kyla standing behind them, a large stack of books in her hands and an expression halfway between anger and fear.

"We'll tell you that, if you tell us what you're doing." Riku said. "Baku's put forth a pretty serious theory here, and I'd like to hear if he's right."

"Well…I-I don't know what it would be." Kyla said, slamming her books down on the table. "I'm just reading up on something that interests me. Is that wrong?"

"No. But I don't think this is just an interest." Baku said. "C'mon Kyla, you know you can tell me anything. I've told you worse things then this."

"There is nothing 'worse' about this." Kyla snapped. "Because nothing is wrong. I'm just reading."

"The whole library?" Roh said, pointing to the stacks.

"I..I… you…" Kyla stammered. "Just leave me alone!"

"We can't." Baku said gently, moving over to his cousin. "Kyla, I think you know what I'm thinking. So tell me. Is it true?"

Kyla looked down at the floor, then slowly looked up at her cousin, the person she'd grown up with, told her secrets to, the older brother she'd never had. As she looked at him, her head quietly nodded up and down.

"It's ok." Baku said, putting his arms around her. "It's all ok. WE can help you with this."

"I don't believe it." Ty Lee. "Just wait until Zuko hears about this…"

"NO!" Kyla yelled suddenly, breaking away from Baku. "You can't!"

"Kyla," Riku began. "If this is true, then shouldn't your uncle know? He can help."

"Because you know what he'll do." Kyla said. "I-I don't want that. I want to deal with this my way."

"Kyla, I don't think you can." Baku said. "No one's ever dealt with this…"

"Well, I'm gonna change things!" Kyla yelled. "Look, do you really think this is the best time to drop this on Uncle Zuko? He's got enough on his mind and this won't help right now."

"…She's got a point." Roh said.

"Look, I think these books can help me. I can deal with this myself, and then we can tell him." Kyla said pleadingly.

Baku was silent a moment, then said, "You are not doing this alone."

"But Baku…"

"Roh and I are going to help you."

"You are?"

"We are?"

"Look, it's impossible for you to do this thing by yourself." Baku said. "There's no reason not to get help."

"Although it is best to do things for yourself, a little encouragement from others is always helpful." Roh said. As everyone turned to stare, the boy shrugged and said, "Great-Uncle Iroh used to say it."

"Well… all right." Kyla said. "I'm getting tired of carrying those books. But what about…." She asked, looking at Riku and Ty Lee.

The white-haired youth thought a moment, then said, "We'll be quiet for now. But if this gets past your control, we're gonna tell Zuko. OK?"

"Sounds good to me." Ty Lee said.

Kyla nodded her head enthusiastically. Riku smiled back, then said, "So what have you figured out so far?"