Ch 29 the serpents pass
Lin tossed her armor aside, and jumped into the lake. Resting her head on the earth she had a short nap and woke up when Katara jumped into the water, and splashed the water everywhere.
"Great. Water on 5,000 year-old maps from the spirit world. Just great." Sokka said.
"Sorry." Katara said, as she bended the water out.
"How's your wound?" Sokka asked Lin, as she came out of the water.
"Doing better, but the bones are still broken." Lin said.
"So did you figure out what route we're going to take?" Aang asked.
"Okay. We just got out of the desert, so we must be around here, and we need to go to Ba Sing Se, which is here. It looks like the only passage connecting the South to the North is this sliver of land called the Serpent's Pass." Sokka said.
"You're sure that's the best way to go?" Toph asked.
"It's the only way to go. It's not like we have Appa here to fly us." Sokka said.
"Shush about Appa. Can you at least try to be sensitive?" Katara asked her brother, then looked at Aang.
"Katara, it's ok. I know I was upset about losing Appa before, but I just want to focus on getting
to Ba Sing Se, and telling the Earth King about the solar eclipse." Aang calmly said.
"Oh. I'm glad you're doing better." Katara said.
"Then to Ba Sing Se. No more distractions." Sokka said.
Lin pulled Katara aside and quickly whispered into her ear.
"He's not doing better. He's just hiding his emotions." Lin said.
"If he's hiding his emotions, he should talk about it." Katara said.
"Katara, that's the last thing he wants to do right now. You saw what he did in the desert. If you want to open that can of worms, go ahead. But next time, there may be no stopping him. He needs to resolve this on his own." Lin said.
"Hello, there fellow refugees." Than said.
"So, are you guys heading to Ba Sing Se too?" Aang asked.
"Sure are, we're trying to get there before my wife Ying has her baby." Than said.
"Great. We can travel thru the serpents pass together." Katara said.
"Serpents pass? Only the truly desperate take that deadly route." Ying fearfully said.
"Deadly route. Great pick, Sokka." Toph said, punching him in the arm, hard.
"Well we are desperate." Sokka said, rubbing his arm.
"You should come with us to Full Moon Bay. Ferries take refugees across the lake, and it's the fastest way to Ba Sing Se." Than said.
"And it's hidden, so the fire nation can't find it." Ying.
"Hmm. Deadly route, or peaceful ferry." Katara sarcastically said.
Emerging from a tunnel, the group enters a large cavern, filled with dozens of refugees.
"I can't believe how many lives were uprooted by the fire nation." Katara said.
"We're all looking for a better life. Safe, behind the walls of Ba Sing Se." Than said.
Years on the police force made Lin cynical about a city claiming to be safe. Zaofu didn't stop the red lotus from attacking them. Republic City was supposed to be a city of prosperity and peace. It was the complete opposite.
"My cabbages!"
Lin turned and saw a platypus bear destroy a cart filled with cabbages. Lin lightly smiled, when she remembered arresting the CEO of cabbage corp.
'Not my cabbage corp' The more things change, the more they stay the same.
"Next." The ticket lady said.
"4 tickets to the ferry to Ba Sing Se, please." Aang said.
"Passports?"
"No-one told us we had to have passports." Aang said.
"Don't you know who he is? He's the avatar." Sokka said.
"I see 50 avatar costumes a day. Not a very impressive lot." The ticket lady said.
"Besides, no animals allowed. Do you want to me to call security?"
"That won't be necessary." Aang said, backing away.
"I'll take care of this." Toph said, approaching the desk.
Toph bullshitted her way into getting tickets for the ferry. Lin hoped that she wouldn't be noticed. The fewer people who knew specifically about her, the better.
"Alright. We scammed that lady good." Sokka said, when a guard grabbed him.
"Tickets and passports." The guard said.
"Is there a problem?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah. I got a problem with you. I've seen your type before, probably sarcastic, think your hilarious, and let me guess, you're traveling with the Avatar." The guard said.
"Do I know you?" Sokka asked.
"You don't remember, maybe you'll remember this." The guard said, and kissed Sokka on the cheek.
"Suki!" Sokka said, hugging his friend.
"It's good to see you again, Sokka." Suki said.
Inside a tower, they catch up on old times.
"You look so different without your makeup, and the new outfit." Katara said.
"That crabby lady makes all the security guards wear them. And look at you sleeveless guy. Been working out?" Suki asked.
"I'll grab a tree branch and do a few chin touches every now and then, nothing major." Sokka said.
"I can still kick your ass in a hand-to-hand fight." Lin said.
"That's because you're an earth-bender." Sokka said.
"Bending doesn't help a person become stronger. If you were to practice your hand to hand as much as you practice running your mouth off, you'd easily beat me in a fight." Lin said.
"Are the other Kyoshi warriors around?" Aang asked.
"Yeah, after you left Kyoshi, we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees, and we've been here ever since. Hi Momo, good to see you too. So why are you guys getting tickets for the ferry? Wouldn't you just fly across on Appa?" Suki asked.
"Appa is missing. We're hoping to find him in Ba Sing Se." Katara said.
"Sorry to hear that. Are you doing okay?" Suki asked Aang.
"I'm fine. Will everyone quit worrying about me?" Aang asked.
At that moment, Ying cried out to them.
"Avatar, you have to help us! Someone took our belongings; our passports, tickets, everything's gone!"
Aang tried to help them, but the ticket lady was unsympathetic.
"No passports, no tickets!"
"But she's pregnant, and all their stuff was stolen! You have to make an exception!"
"No exceptions! If I just gave tickets away willy-nilly to anyone, there would be no order! You know what that means, no more civilization!"
"What if we gave them our tickets?" Aang asked.
"No."
"But…"
"Next!"
Aang came back to the group, wiping away the stamp on his forehead.
"You'll get to the city. I'll lead you thru the serpents pass." Aang said.
As they were leaving, Suki joined them. And Lin was surprised that she was still wearing her armor.
"Still wearing that dress?" Lin asked.
"Yeah." Suki said.
Lin shook her head and gave Suki a cynical smile.
"Hope you survive, but don't pine on hope, especially while wearing that." Lin said.
"You're colder than the first time we met." Suki said.
"War will do that to you." Lin said.
The group stopped at a H-shaped structure just before the pass.
"I thought it would be shaped like a serpent." Sokka said.
"There's enough water here to hold a serpent. That's why it's called the serpents pass." Lin said.
"Abandon hope." Katara said, reading the words scratched into the wood.
"Abandon hope, how can we do that? It's all we have left." Ying said.
Lin walked to the wood and carved out the writing.
"Hope is a bullshit idea. It gets you nowhere. You keep going by yourself. Not by some foolish idea." Lin said, walking onto the path.
As they continued on the path, Suki told the group something she should have said earlier.
"The fire nation controls the western lake. Rumor has it that they're working on something big, and they don't want anyone to know about it." Suki said.
"Has the earth kingdom done some recon, or stayed behind the wall of their city?" Lin asked.
"Don't know. They must have." Suki said.
"But you aren't sure." Lin said.
"Correct." Suki said.
They saw a fire nation cruiser on its patrol. Lin crossed her fingers, hoping that they wouldn't start shooting at them.
And just when she had that thought, part of the cliff gave way, and Tan almost fell, but Toph stopped his fall.
"I'm okay." He said.
"Incoming!" Lin shouts, as the cruiser fires a fireball towards them. The flaming projectile crashed into the mountain above them, and another hit the same spot, causing a rockslide. Sokka pushed Suki out of the way, and was almost crushed by the falling rocks. Toph stopped the rocks from crushing him, but instead of thanking Toph, Sokka focused on Suki.
"Thanks for saving me, Toph. Sure, no problem, Sokka." Toph sarcastically said, before running with the rest of the group.
Having evaded their attackers, they set up camp that night. Lin took her armor off and grabbed her wound. The makeshift bandage was no longer working so she had Katara help heal the wound.
"This should help, but I can't fix any broken bones. It's beyond what I can do right now." Katara said.
"Even if you could, it's best that you don't. Behind the ribs, are the lungs and other vital organs." Lin said.
"If you have to fight, try to avoid getting hit in the ribs." Katara said.
"I'll keep that in mind." Lin sarcastically said.
"No need to be sarcastic." Katara said.
"Face reality. I can hold my own, but one strike against my ribs will put me down. I won't be able to stop that from happening." Lin said, putting her armor back on.
"So, you think Aang's okay?" Katara asked.
"He's not. I've been thru it before. I had a boyfriend in the past. He wanted a family, I didn't. That was straw the broke the camel's back. So we broke up. He's happy now, and I'm fine with how things turned out, but still…" Lin said.
"It wasn't easy when you two broke up." Katara said.
"No. It was very hard. We knew each other since we were kids." Lin said.
"Sorry to hear about that. What was his name?" Katara asked.
"Lee." Lin lied.
The next day, things were going according to plan when they came across a divide in the water. Katara had everyone stand in a line and walked into the water, performing a miniature feat of dividing the sea. With Aang's help, they had an air bubble for them to walk thru. Momo went into the water to find a fish, then quickly swam back.
"Oh my god." Lin said, as she saw a large serpent in their view. An angry serpent, to be precise. The serpent broke thru the air bubble, and Toph quickly brought them above sea level with her earth-bending. When Suki explained that she wasn't an expert on sea creatures, Sokka decided he would offer Momo as a trade for safe passage.
"Oh great and powerful sea serpent, please accept this humble and tasty offering. Thank you." Sokka said.
"Sokka!" Katara scolded.
"Is he that stupid?" Lin asked.
"I quit trying to figure that out a long time ago." Katara said.
Aang got the serpents attention with a blast of air.
"Katara, get everyone across. I'll distract it."
While Aang opened his glider to face off against the serpent, Katara made an ice bridge and everyone ran across. Lin held Toph in her arms, and ran across the bridge. The serpent slammed its tail on the ice bridge, destroying it.
Katara and Aang created a whirlpool that trapped the serpent in the center, spinning faster and faster until it slammed against the wall of the cliff.
"I swear to god, if more shit happens, I'm going to lose it." Lin said, almost at her breaking point. She just got out of the desert, and barely escaped a serpent.
Ying groaned in pain and clutched her stomach.
"The baby's coming." She groans.
"What? Now? Can't you hold it in or something?" Sokka asked.
"I think that cactus juice sapped what's left of your brain. And don't be expecting to get it back." Lin said.
"Sokka, calm down. I helped Gran-gran deliver lots of babies back home." Katara chided.
Sokka did not calm down.
"This isn't the same as delivering an arctic seal! This is a live human thing!"
"It's called a baby. And I've delivered plenty of those. Aang, get some rags. Sokka, water. Toph, I need an earth tent. A big one. Suki, Lin, come with me." Katara said.
"Spread her legs." Lin said.
Katara and Suki grabbed Yin's legs and spread them as far as comfortable, and Lin pinned them to the ground with her earthbending.
"You're doing fine. Just keep pushing." Katara said.
Yin screamed in pain as she tried to push the baby out.
"Sokka, where's that water?" Katara asked.
Sokka came in, just as the baby came out of the mother's stomach.
Sokka simply fainted at the sight. Lin saw it as well, and had a disgusted look on her face. Taking a deep breath, she swallowed her saliva and tried not to throw up.
"It's a girl!" Katara said.
"About time something good happens." Lin said.
"What should we name her?" the father asked.
"I want our daughter's name to be unique. I want it to mean something."
At that moment, Aang spoke up.
"I've been going thru a really hard time lately. But you've made me… hopeful again." Aang said.
Lin stepped outside and looked at the horizon. While she still didn't believe in hope, she gave credit to those who were willing to make their wishes and achievements be a reality, come hell or high water.
"So what are you thinking?" Aang asked.
"Despite all the shit that's been happening, we're still alive." Lin said.
"Yeah. We still are." Aang said.
"Seeing that family together, so full of happiness and love, it reminded me of how I feel about Appa… and how I feel about you and everyone else." Aang said.
Touched, Lin pulled Aang into a bear hug.
Separating, Aang grabs his staff.
"I promise I'll find Appa as fast as I can. I just really need to do this." Aang said.
"See you in the big city." Sokka said.
"Say hi to that big fuzzball for me." Toph said, slugging Aang in the arm.
As Aang leaves ahead of the group to go after Appa, Lin speaks to her friends.
"I've been to the city before. And it's not what you think it is." Lin said.
"It's Ba Sing Se. The capital of the earth-kingdom." Sokka said.
"The dragon of the west broke through." Toph said.
"Threats from the fire nation is a vacation compared to what goes inside the city. There's corruption, crime, a secret police force. Hell, staying outside the wall is better than staying inside the wall." Lin said.
"And why are you telling us this?" Katara asked.
"I get the feeling we'll be staying for a long time in the city. I just want ya'll to be prepared." Lin said.
