Chapter Thirty-Six
"I've never seen so much food in my entire life," Sokka breathed in wonderment. "Please…somebody pinch me." Obligingly, Toph reached out and, none too gently, tweaked his tender flesh. Sokka yelped loudly before swiveling around to glare at her. "Hey! What's the idea?"
"I was only trying to make you happy," Toph replied sweetly.
"Well, you did ask, Sokka," Aang laughed, provoking snickers of amusement from their friends as well.
"It's a figure of speech," Sokka grumbled, pouting and nursing the bruised spot, "Does no one get that?"
When Long Feng had said that he was throwing a banquet in the Avatar's honor, he had certainly meant it. A colorful plume of guests was spread before them, each one glittering with the latest Earth Kingdom fashions. The faintest sound of music could be heard over the steady hum of the crowd. The food was a succulent smorgasbord of prime meats, crisp vegetables and sinfully rich desserts. In all respects, it was almost as if the war had not come to Ba Sing Se at all. There was none feel of the poverty and hardship and fear that they had frequently encountered on their journey. It was a marvelous sight…and a curious one.
"Avatar," Long Feng greeted, suddenly materializing before the small group of teens with arms outstretched in welcome, "You're early and I see you have brought guests with you."
"Yes, these are my very good friends," Zuko confirmed. He nodded towards Katara and Aang who stood on his right and introduced them, before turning to Sokka and Toph on his left and doing the same. "They are staying with me at the apartment you so generously provided."
"I'm happy to hear that," he said, "I trust they are finding the accommodations as comfortable as you are, Avatar."
"Yes, we are!" Aang piped in exuberantly.
His enthused agreement drew Long Feng's immediate attention. The moment the advisor's eyes settled on Aang however, his stare became positively penetrating. Aang didn't have to guess the source of the man's fascination. Everyone was always taken aback by his scar the first time they saw it. He'd grown used to the reaction. But there was something vaguely sinister in Long Feng's stare, an odd suspicion that made Aang extremely uncomfortable. Under the burning intensity of the older man's stare, he somehow managed not to squirm.
"That is a rather wicked looking burn you have there," Long Feng commented smoothly, "How did you receive it?"
Almost instantly Aang could feel the concerned gazes of his friends land on his face, but Aang kept relatively cool. "When I was a little boy, I tripped into the fire pit while trying to peek into my mother's pot of boiling noodles," Aang lied smoothly, "I was always very bad about that. She had warned me about the danger over and over, but I never listened. My scar is a constant reminder to always listen and be obedient." He staunchly ignored the amused, eye-rolling looks he received from Zuko, Katara and Sokka.
"I'm sure that was a difficult way to learn a lesson," Long Feng remarked.
"Indeed," Aang replied, straight-faced.
"Aang does have a hard head sometimes," Zuko supplied with an aggravated glance in the fire prince's direction.
As he and Long Feng exchanged brief chit chat over that, Toph leaned into Aang and mumbled in a furtive and admiring aside, "Hey, you're a pretty good liar."
Aang's eyes sparkled at the compliment. "Well, I try."
Unaware of the surreptitious exchange, Long Feng decided to dismiss the subject altogether, shaking off the discomfited feeling that had assailed him when he saw the boy's mangled scar. "I'm afraid I must attend to the other guests;" he said in a tone full of counterfeit regret, "In the meantime, please enjoy the festivities. And if I can be of any assistance to you, please feel free to ask."
With the invitation put out there, Katara decided to take advantage. "I'd like to know about the Earth King!" she called at his back as he started to turn away.
Long Feng turned back to face her with single, raised brow. "What about the Earth King?"
Katara refused to be intimidated by the man's austere personage, though her knees did trembled uncontrollably beneath the skirts of her long, formal gown. "We'd like to see him as soon as possible. Now, if it can be arranged."
"I'm afraid the Earth King had an urgent matter come up at the last minute and was unable to attend this evening," Long Feng told her, "He sends his regret, but your formal request to see him is still being processed. It is simply a matter of patience."
As he walked away, Katara's cheeks were flaming with the veiled rebuke as well as frustrated ire. "Why am I not surprised?" she grated to her circle of friends, "This entire time we've been counting on the Earth King being in attendance and he doesn't even show up!"
"Katara, calm down," Zuko soothed in a stunning role reversal, "Long Feng said our application is still being processed and I trust him."
With that single statement, loud warning bells of concern sounded, not only for Aang and Katara, but Sokka and Toph as well. Sokka rounded on Zuko suspiciously. "Since when do you trust anyone?" he demanded incredulously.
"What? Is that so strange?" Zuko retorted a little defensively.
"Coming from you?" Toph snorted. "Yeah, it is!" Her gamin features contorted with a deeply pensive scowl. "You've been acting weird for days now. I was trying to ignore it, but now it's just out of hand. What's with you, Zuko?"
"What are you talking about? Nothing's 'with' me," he denied, "I'm fine!"
"No, you're not," Sokka refuted, "Usually, I try not to look a gift ostrich horse in the mouth. I've been pretty thankful you came out of your funk, because when you're in a mood it's never a good thing, but… This isn't like you at all."
"Oh, now I get it. Katara's finally gotten to you too, huh?" Zuko surmised shortly with a glower her direction. "Why do you always have to pick at everything I do?"
"I'm not picking at you," Katara denied softly, "I'm worried, Zuko. I want to help you."
"I don't need your help!" he snapped, "Now you've got everyone else on my back too!"
"Stop attacking her! This doesn't have anything to do with Katara," Aang insisted sharply, "and everything to do with you. I know you, Zuko. You eat, sleep and breathe live this journey. Fulfilling your destiny has always been your primary focus. It's always been the most important thing to you and now, it's like you don't even care."
"Aang's right," Toph piped in, "I'm all for you being happy, Moodbender, but this is beyond that. You're like…like pod Zuko. It's starting to creep me out."
"Are you guys really going to do this in the middle of a party?" Zuko hissed, aware of the guests who were milling about them impatiently, hoping for a chance to converse with the all-powerful Avatar. "You're unhappy when I'm moody and you're unhappy when I'm happy! I can't win either way!"
"This isn't about winning," Sokka said, "Something strange is going on with you. We've known it for a long time now and we can't ignore it anymore."
"Nothing strange is going on," Zuko ground out impatiently. "I'm the same as I've always been! Can we just drop it? There are people waiting to talk to me!"
"Who cares about them?" Katara burst out shortly, worry and frustration causing her temper to flare, "We're here to talk to the Earth King, not cater to a bunch of spoiled socialites who could probably care less that a war is going on in the first place! There was a time when I wouldn't have to remind you of that, Zuko!"
The admonition was harsh and unforgiving. Zuko snapped to intention as if she'd slapped him. Her words made him feel confused and oddly guilty because Zuko was sure, at one time, he would have been saying the exact same thing. For some reason, however, that had changed. His drive had fallen dormant and he couldn't figure out why. His resulting confusion over that fact, as well as his unwilling suspicion that his friends were right after all, put Zuko on the defensive.
"This is how it's going to be. I am going to enjoy myself," he informed Katara brusquely, his expression suddenly becoming devoid of warmth, "I'm going to eat and drink and make new friends. If you don't like it, there's the door. Feel free to use it."
As he walked off and was swallowed into the crowd before them, he left his friends gaping in appalled incredulity. Toph was the first to recover. She emitted a low whistle. "Well, that was certainly the Zuko I know and remember," she said, "Only he's being a jerk about the wrong thing."
"He's been weird ever since he went for that walk," Katara said. "Aang and I found out that he came to the palace that day. Lots of people saw him outside. They said he was making such a scene about getting in to the Earth King that eventually the guards took him in. But he never mentioned a word about it to us. Why do you think that is?"
"There could be plenty of reasons not sinister at all, Katara," Sokka reasoned, "He did meet Long Feng that day. Maybe that's how he did. Maybe he was embarrassed to tell us what a fuss he had made about it."
"But why would he even go to the palace without us in the first place?" Aang wondered. "I thought we all agreed that talking to the Earth King was going to be a group effort."
"Don't take it personally, Admiral Sensitive. Sometimes, you just need to do stuff on your own," Toph considered, "I'm not going to give Zuko a hard time about it. That, at least, I can understand."
"Yeah, but understanding Zuko's inner machinations won't help us figure out how to get to Long Feng to stop jerking us around," Sokka interjected. "That's definitely what's going on here. I'm sure of it."
"What should we do then?" Katara asked her brother. "Maybe Zuko could talk to him since they seem so chummy, but he won't listen to a word we're saying."
The four teens fell into a dejected silence, feeling defeated before they'd even begun. However, only moments after the crushed feeling had settled in, Sokka was perking up again. "Wait a minute, you guys. The situation isn't hopeless. Think about where we are right now," he reminded them in a soft, conspiratorial whisper, "We're inside the palace. There's nothing to stop us from leaving this party and looking for the Earth King ourselves. We can bypass Long Feng altogether."
"There's just one problem, ye ol genius," Toph deadpanned "And it would be the two burly guards situated at every exit in this room and the numerous watchmen that stand beyond them. If you think Long Feng is letting us leave this room for anything other than a potty break, then you're nuts!"
"Then I guess we just have to be sneaky about it," Sokka surmised, undeterred. He glanced over at Aang, whose expression clearly stated that he was onboard with whatever the Water Tribe warrior had planned. "We've seen how accomplished you are at lying," Sokka said, sparking a proud grin from his friend, "Now let's see how good you are at acting…"
The slender knife wielder slipped quietly through the winding corridors of the sleekly constructed drill as it tunneled inexorably across the Earth Kingdom desert. Weak moonlight filtered in through the small windows situated on either side of the structure, obscured by the choking clouds of dust the mechanical monstrosity kicked up in its wake. On Azula's orders, they were moving at an incredible speed towards Ba Sing Se. Mai knew she didn't have much time.
It was after midnight. Most of the crew had already gone to bed. Those who hadn't were mainly confined to the engine and control rooms. A select few had been charged with the responsibility of patrolling the corridors and keeping on the lookout for enemy attack. And of those patrolmen, two expert Firebenders had been entrusted with the task of guarding the Avatar's bison. Mai was well aware that security around the animal would be tight. She also knew that by going through with her daring plan, there would be no turning back.
In the beginning, she had tried to be indifferent. The last time she had seen Zuko, he'd made it abundantly clear that he didn't hold a very high opinion of her. Under those circumstances, she saw no reason why she would want to stick her neck out to save his bison. It was his own fault for not keeping up with the animal in the first place! It wasn't her problem. She had too many worries of her own to contemplate taking on his as well.
Inevitably though, that reasoning had only lasted so long. After witnessing Azula's cruel hand with Zuko's pet the last few days, Mai could no longer ignore the pangs of her conscience. Sometimes it felt like Azula was going out of her way to be as heinous as possible, especially when she was present. Mai couldn't stand it anymore. She had to take action. In essence, she was about to screw up her entire life and she knew it.
The Firebenders standing guard at the hatch where the bison was being held stood at attention long before Mai reached them. The one on her left didn't seem at all alarmed by her approach. The one on her right was instantly suspicious and it showed.
Despite the blood pounding in her veins and her erratically beating heart, Mai was the picture of serene confidence when she said, "I've come to inspect the bison. Princess Azula's orders."
"Do you have the Princess' seal?" the suspicious one asked.
"Are you seriously asking me for that?" Mai brazened. "You do know I'm her right hand?"
"Let her in, Chan," the more amiable guard prompted. "I'm sure it won't be a problem."
"I don't know…" Chan replied slowly.
"Either let me in or you can explain to Azula why her orders weren't carried out," Mai declared in a bored tone, "It's your choice. Actually, your refusal works better for me," she continued with a broad yawn, "I can go back to bed."
"Wait!" the guard called at her back when she turned to walk away. Mai pivoted back to face him. "You can have ten minutes," Chan relented, "There's no need to disturb the Princess without cause."
"A wise choice," Mai commended as he turned to unlock the heavy metal door for her. When they both would have stayed and hovered after letting her into the cell, Mai turned to regard the Firebender guards with a chilly stare. "I don't need you to hold my hand," she said, "You may go."
"Remember, ten minutes," the guard reminded her, "Any longer than that and you're likely to get him worked up again."
After he and his companion obediently sealed her in alone with the bison, Mai fumbled along the wall to light the sconces found there. The moment the cell illuminated with the wavering orange light, an ominous growling sounded from the shadows ahead. Mai saw the eerie twin glow of Appa's eyes in the dimness before she could make out the rest of his hulking form. As she began her approach, he shrank back further into the darkness even as his eyes narrowed and his growling became more menacing.
"Don't be afraid," she soothed him gently, "I'm not going to hurt you. I think you've endured more than enough of that already." Appa snarled his disbelief, filling the cell with the heavy rattle of his chains as he struggled to his feet. "Whoa, now. I'm not your enemy. You can trust me," Mai insisted, balking inwardly over the fact she was even attempting to reason with the animal in the first place.
She wondered if she should reach out and offer him a kind touch, but she was unwilling to risk losing her hand for the attempt. If the way he was baring his teeth was any indication, he certainly wanted to take a chunk out of her. Recognizing he wasn't going to be easy to win over and wisely holding her distance because of that, Mai abruptly switched her tactics from cajolery to blunt reason.
"Listen, this is no picnic for me either," she hissed, "But I'm risking my freedom here, so it would be nice if you'd cooperate! Or would you rather stay here with your new friend Azula?"
The mention of the Fire Nation princess' name got Appa's immediate attention and his growls died down into cowed whimpers. "An understandable response," Mai deadpanned, "Azula has that effect on people." She crept closer, producing a key from inside the folds of her robe. "I'm going to help you get out of here," she promised, "but, if we want to succeed, we're going to have to work together, Appa." The bison grunted in surprise at the use of his name and Mai almost smiled at the sound. It was the beginning of a precarious bridge towards trust. "Yeah, that's right," she said, "I know your name. Zuko told me."
Finally, with the mention of Zuko, Appa lowered his guard completely and allowed Mai to move close enough to unbolt his chains. "Now, we're going to have to do this a certain way," she told him as she worked to free him, "and if we fail, it won't be pretty. So listen very carefully to what I tell you…"
Ten minutes later, Mai rapped on the heavy iron door in signal to be released. "That didn't take as long as I expected," the amiable guard remarked as he swung open the heavy metal door, "Did you find everything you needed?"
"Yes, I did," Mai replied. She opened her mouth, as if she meant to say something more than that, then suddenly gasped. "What's that right there?" When both guards quickly turned to glance in the direction she'd indicated, Mai raised the heavy coil of chains concealed in her hand and walloped the more obstinate one across the head. He silently crumpled to the ground.
Before the second one could shake off his shock and firebend at her, Mai whipped out a stream of pointed darts that snagged in a neat row down the length of his sleeves and drove him back into the adjacent wall, pinning him there and rendering him immobile. "What are you doing?" he cried in horror. "Are you crazy? The Princess will have your head!"
"If I tried to explain it, you wouldn't get it anyway," Mai sighed, quickly sidestepping the prone guard to shove a handkerchief into the conscious guard's mouth. She acknowledged his indignant mewling with a simple explanation. "Just in case you thought about screaming. I can't have that."
After lingering for a moment to ascertain the first guard was still breathing, Mai went to work at dragging his limp body into Appa's cell. Unfortunately, he felt like a leaden weight and after a few minutes of fruitless huffing and puffing, Mai had not moved him more than a few inches. She straightened with an exasperated grunt, and threw a glance over her shoulder at Appa. "You can come over here and help anytime," she invited drolly.
Obediently, the bison lumbered forward and plucked the Firebender by the collar with his teeth, dragging him back into the cell as Mai had instructed. Once that task was completed, Mai began working frenetically to bind the guard tightly in Appa's discarded chains. On the off chance that he did regain consciousness before they escaped then, at least, he'd be in no position to follow them.
After the first guard was secured, Mai focused her attention on the second. Cautioning Appa to stay put a few moments longer, she crept back into the corridor with the intention of retrieving him and binding him up with his companion. However, she was horrified to discover he'd managed to work free one of his arms from the dart prison and was attempting to reach out and pull the alarm chord. Mai raised her arm to throw out a hail of subduing knives when in a dizzying, pink blur, Ty Lee flipped into view, seemingly from out of nowhere, and struck the Firebender into immobility in a matter of seconds. When it was over, he laid face first against the ground in a paralyzed heap.
Mai blinked at her friend in shock as Ty Lee bent to stuff the guard's gag back in place. "What are you doing?" she cried.
"What are you doing?" Ty Lee countered, rounding on her. "Are you crazy? If Azula catches you, it's over!"
"She's not going to catch me," Mai replied. "I've got this under control. Go back, Ty Lee. There's no reason for you to be here."
"Mai, I know how you feel," Ty Lee reasoned sensitively, "It's hard to watch such a gentle, defenseless creature being treated so poorly, especially one that's so completely adorable. Frankly, I expected better of Azula. Animal cruelty is so beneath her. Still," she pressed on, her tone gaining urgency, "it's not worth risking your life over, is it?"
"That's not why I'm doing this," Mai refuted, stooping to take hold of the other guard and drag him back into Appa's cell. Without being asked, Ty Lee lent a hand, making the task much easier.
"Well, if you're not here to avert animal cruelty, why are you doing this?" Yet, almost the second Ty Lee voiced the question aloud, the answer came to her. She snapped to attention with a wide smile. "I was right!" she gasped expansively with a sharp snap of her fingers, "Something did happen with you and the Avatar in the cave that day!"
Mai didn't even spare her a glance, though her shoulders did stiffen. "Ty Lee, I don't have time for this," she muttered as she bound the other guard. "If you know what I'm doing, then it's only a matter of time before Azula catches wind of it and comes after me. I have to go."
"You know I won't tell," Ty Lee insisted in a hurt tone.
"It's not about you telling," Mai sighed, "It's about the fact that I know what I'm doing is going to get me in a lot of trouble, especially if I'm caught. I don't want to take you down with me."
"So you're risking all of this for him," Ty Lee surmised, obviously caught up with the romantic notion of it all. Mai said nothing, but instead focused her attention on coaxing Appa out of the shadows because Ty Lee's presence had left him unsettled. "Come on," her friend wheedled with a pout, "You can tell me, Mai! I can keep a secret." She favored her friend with an inane smile. "Are you in love with the Avatar?"
"It's nothing like that at all!" Mai snapped. "I owe him. That's all. Zuko saved my life and I owe him."
"Zuko?"
Mai had to close her eyes and mentally count to ten. "That's his name, okay!"
Ty Lee beamed. "Wow, you know his name and you feel like you owe him… I definitely know this is about more than gratitude," she insisted sagely, "I think you have feelings for him, Mai!" While Mai darted a furtive look out into the corridor to make certain she could smuggle Appa outside without incident, Ty Lee gushed on behind her, "This is so wonderful! Finally, someone has managed to penetrate that cold, emotionless heart of yours!"
That was enough to incur a sardonic scowl from Mai. "Gee, thanks for that, Ty Lee."
"And your aura…" she went on in bubbly excitement, "It's not even that awful gray color anymore! It's practically pink! You're glowing with happiness, Mai!"
"That's not happiness, it's impatience," Mai gritted, "I'm wasting valuable time, Ty Lee!"
"Oh yeah, of course. I'll help you," her friend decided impulsively.
Mai froze in the act of leading Appa from the cell. "What?"
"I'm going to help you smuggle the Avatar's bison out of here." She nudged Mai with her elbow. "You know, he'll probably be so grateful that you saved his bison's life, he'll kiss you."
"Will you stop that?" Mai snapped, blushing in spite of her irritated tone. "You can't come with me."
"And you can't get him out of here without help," Ty Lee chirped, "So I'm coming with you."
Because she was painfully aware of the limited time frame in which she was working, Mai didn't bother to argue, though she recognized she probably should have. "I hope you know what you're doing, Ty Lee," she sighed.
"Nope, I don't," Ty Lee replied flippantly, "But I think I'm doing the right thing, so it's okay."
Unfortunately, Mai had been correct in her assumptions. As they made their flight through the narrow corridors, slowed down by Appa's girth, Mai and Ty Lee were swarmed by Firebenders. They worked together to cut down any road block in their path. Ty Lee would immobilize all comers, while Mai insured that those who were capable of movement were pinned in place. By the time they made it to the overhead hatch which opened to the roof of the drill, the alarm bells were already clanging. They weren't a bit surprised to find Azula waiting for them with a small army, standing between them and their only means of escape.
The Fire Nation princess regarded both Mai and Ty Lee with narrowed eyes, but her dangerous glare lingered in particular on Mai. "I expected such duplicity from you, Mai," she began in a silken tone, "I've suspected you were betraying me for some time now." When Mai didn't so much as flinch in reaction to that revelation, Azula barked, "Just tell me why! You knew the consequences! Why would you do it?" Once again, Mai didn't answer, but Azula didn't need her to because she already suspected that Mai didn't understand her own reasons, which made her betrayal all the worse in Azula's eyes.
She turned her glacial stare towards Ty Lee. "And you," she spat in revulsion, "I never imagined that you would stab me in the back too. I had half suspected Mai, because she was never truly my friend in the first place. But you were different. You were mine and now you've become no different from the rest of them!"
"I didn't want it to be this way, Azula!" Ty Lee cried, "Why did you have to make me choose?"
"If there was a choice to be made, you should have chosen me," Azula countered coldly, raising her arm.
When she would have drawn back her arm to strike Ty Lee down, Mai reacted instinctively and launched out a spinning dagger that sliced Azula across the wrist, aborting her attack on Ty Lee. Azula drew her disbelieving gaze from the ribbon of blood welling up across her flesh to Mai's resolute features. "I'm going to make you suffer for that," she promised calmly. "Guards! Seize them!"
Everything exploded in a haze that seemed to fly by in a dizzying blur of movement. Mai yelled out for Appa to run while Ty Lee flipped into action, ducking fierce blasts of fire to land exacting jabs to her opponents' arms and shoulders and chests. Mai held her own as well, knocking countless Firebenders aside with the help of her shurikens in hopes of clearing a path for Appa's escape. The ten ton bison wound his way through the melee, cringing and shrinking back from the excessive blaze of fire crisscrossing the tight confines. But when he crossed paths with Azula, he stopped completely.
"You're not going anywhere," she stated implacably, "Are you, beast?"
"Appa…go now!" Mai screamed, darting her way out from underneath a Firebender's attack in order to get to Appa.
Azula cast a ring of blue fire around the mighty beast, shrinking it in fractional intervals so that the searing heat radiated closer and closer to Appa's fur. "You want to get out of here," Azula taunted, "You're going to have to cross the fire first."
Appa mewled and just as Mai started to launch herself at Azula in growling attack, Ty Lee sprang forward and caught Azula unawares with a series of jabs. The fire ring winked out and the princess crumpled to the ground. Everyone froze in the wake of that horrific act, but none where more horrified than Ty Lee.
"Don't just stand there, you imbeciles!" Azula ground out from her crumpled position on the floor, "Seize them both! I want them in chains!"
"Mai, this is your chance!" Ty Lee cried as the barrage of fire began anew, "Take Appa and get out of here now!"
"But what about you?" Mai cried as she scrambled up onto Appa's back to unhook the overhead hatch and reveal the twinkling night sky.
Ty Lee was already springing to meet their attackers head on when her reply reached Mai's ears. "Just go! Don't look back!"
Realizing she couldn't afford to hesitate, Mai did as she was told. She got a good grip on Appa's back and told him in rather succinct terms to get them out of there. Below her she could hear the whoosh and hiss of fireballs, feel the searing heat as they sailed past her and Appa as the majestic bison took flight through the large exit in the drill's ceiling. Mai buried her face into his thick fur and held on for dear life. Azula's chilling rants of outrage followed her into the night, echoing in her ears long after the fire blasts had fallen silent.
Back inside the drill, Ty Lee was, at last, subdued and bound. Afterwards, she was thrown before a supported Azula. The Fire Nation princess glared down at her former friend in unconcealed revulsion and hatred. "Where is she going?" Azula demanded shortly, "Tell me now and I'll consider sparing your life!"
"I don't know," Ty Lee sobbed, "She never told me, Azula!"
"As if you would tell me if she had," Azula sneered, "I don't need your help. Mai is nothing if not tediously predictable." She flicked a glance to the guard on her right. "She'll go to Ba Sing Se and warn them of our attack. Tell the Captain that we need to move double-speed!"
"Yes, princess."
After that guard darted off to fulfill her order and another wordlessly and obediently took his place at Azula's side, the new guard asked, "What should be done with the prisoner, Princess?"
"Take her to the prison hold and leave her there," Azula ordered, her malignant gaze trained on Ty Lee the entire time. "When I'm recovered, I intend to deal with her personally."