Chapter Thirty-Seven

"Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick!"

Aang clutched his stomach and collapsed to the floor with an exaggerated groan. He had deliberately positioned himself near the buffet table so that his actions would garner swift attention and concern. And they did.

As a small circle of guests began to gather around him worriedly, Sokka, Katara and Toph took advantage of the diversion he created to casually inch their way towards the exit. Aang caught sight of their efforts in his peripheral vision and increased his anguished moans. Soon, his affected cries of pain became louder than the live music being played and it wasn't very long before the entire banquet ground to a total halt. Musicians abandoned their instruments. Servants left off serving. And guards from all corners of the room gradually began to drift away from their posts for a closer look.

Seizing the opportunity presented to them, Sokka, Katara and Toph made a mad dash for the nearest exit. No one noticed them at all. They could have easily made a clean getaway with no one being the wiser. Yet, at the ornate archway leading out into the palace's main corridor, Katara hesitated, throwing a worried glance over her shoulder over towards the growing crowd.

"I don't know, Sokka… Maybe we should stay," she fretted indecisively.

"What are you talking about? Katara, this might be our only opportunity to talk to the Earth King," Sokka reasoned urgently, "I know you don't like going behind Zuko's back, but he hasn't left us with much choice."

"It's not that," she replied, eyes still trained on the large spectacle Aang was making, her ears ringing with his loud mewls of pain. An unconscious scowl of concern darkened her features. "What if Aang's not faking it? I don't know if we should leave him. He sounds really awful right now…"

Toph hooked her by the arm and forcefully dragged her from the room, exasperation detectable even in her sightless stare. "Oh good grief, Sugar Queen! He's faking it! Trust me. Now move your butt!"

Sokka flicked the scene with one, last admiring glance before following after them. "Why didn't I know he was this good a while ago…oh, the wasted opportunities," he lamented to himself.

Long Feng elbowed his way through the dense crowd with an impatient huff. Zuko zipped closely behind him, impeded in his advance by fawning guests and questions he couldn't possibly answer. While he was waylaid though, Long Feng made swift progress to the center of the controversy. Moments later, the king's advisor was greeted with the sight of Aang writhing on the floor in apparent agony. However, the scene provoked little more than irritation from Long Feng. He was unmoved, too preoccupied with the great tides of humiliation coursing through his body and the complete ruination of his banquet to care about Aang's distress and it showed in his next words.

"Young man!" he snapped, "What is the meaning of this unsightly behavior? Get up this instant!"

"Tainted meat," Aang groaned, still rolling about on the floor with his knees drawn tightly to his chest in a fetal position, "I've eaten tainted meat! Ooooh, the pain…the gut-wrenching pain!" While Long Feng was visibly skeptical concerning the claim, his guests didn't take much convincing. A chorus of disgusted gasps sounded from the crowd and quite a few guests hastily set aside their plates at the implication of spoiled food.

More aggravated by their nauseated responses than concerned, Long Feng spat, "That's absurd! There's nothing wrong with the meat. It's the finest in all of Ba Sing Se!" To prove his point, he plucked a morsel from a nearby tray and popped it into his mouth. Long Feng gave an exaggerated shiver of delight as he chewed the meat and swallowed. "You see?" he expressed to the revolted crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, I assure you, all of the food being served here tonight is of the highest quality."

As if to dispute that, Aang groaned again, much louder than ever before. He even gagged for effect, which provoked yet another stunned gasp from the crowd. In one united throng, they took a simultaneous step backwards, half expecting him to spew on them at any moment. Aang had a difficult time keeping his hysterical laughter at bay.

Sensing that, Long Feng fixed Aang with a narrowed glare before turning to address his apprehensive guests with a forced smile. Though, he urged them to return to the festivities with wine and merriment, not a single person budged from their spots. Some even expressed their desire to leave as they were beginning to feel ill as well. Exasperated, Long Feng whipped back to face Aang with an exasperated sneer.

"Get up, you fool!" he hissed at the prone boy, "You can't be in as much pain as that!"

Feeling challenged, Aang emitted a pitiable moan and clutched at his belly. "Ugh…it feels like I've eaten broken glass. My fingers are tingling," he gasped on dramatically, "I can't feel my toes…what day is it?" At that point, the crowd began to buzz with a loud murmuring and several blustering demands for a physician were made.

Though Long Feng obligingly knelt at Aang's side in a seeming intention to offer assistance, his words to Aang were anything but comforting. "Listen to me, you little brat," he grated behind his teeth as he made a show of attending to Aang, "You had better be on your deathbed right now! There are many wealthy and very important diplomats attending this banquet tonight and if you ruin things for me, if whatever is ailing you doesn't kill you, then I will."

Zuko finally managed to push his way through the crush of guests at that precise moment and what he found made him stop short and gape. Aang was rolling about on the floor like a deranged otter-hound while Long Feng apparently tried to calm him though he looked more like he wanted to throttle Aang than offer assistance. The two were surrounded by green-faced guests who appeared on the verge of collapse themselves. Others furtively sniffed at their plates. Zuko didn't know whether he should laugh, which was his first inclination, or be seriously concerned.

He decided to go with the latter even as he was choking on the former. "Aang! What are you doing? Why are you on the floor?"

"Zuko…my friend…" Aang rasped dramatically, beckoning Zuko over, "Come closer…" He feigned a coughing fit, which galvanized the crowd with demands for a physician right away. The insistence irritated Long Feng even further because he was almost certain the boy was faking his malady, but for what reason he wasn't quite sure. Yet, in spite of his doubt and growing annoyance, he yielded to the pressure and dispatched one of his agents to find a healer.

Meanwhile, Zuko folded down beside Aang and assisted his friend into an upright position. "What did you do to yourself?"

"Oh Zuko," Aang moaned, aware that Long Feng was hanging on his every word, "It must have been something I had for dinner. My stomach hurts from all the meat I ate."

He emphasized the last bit of that and leveled Zuko with a meaningful look, hoping his friend would pick up on the subtle incongruity in the claim. While Aang was hardly a vegetarian like Zuko, he certainly wasn't a full blown meat connoisseur like Sokka either. If anyone would have overdosed on such a thing, it would have been their Water Tribe companion. Aang hoped that fact would ring some bells for Zuko and alert him that there was more going on than meets the eye, but the young Avatar remained oblivious and failed to register the hint at all. Aang groaned again, but this time from sheer frustration.

"So what did you eat?" Zuko asked him.

Aang decided to try again, taking a different tactic by being more specific. "Eh…a little pheasant, a bit of quail, some roasted duck, stuffed pigeon with apples, braised lamb with leeks and onions…oh and handful of pork skewers…oh, and some cheese."

"Yuck," Zuko replied, rearing back in distaste, "You ate all that? No wonder you feel so horrible. That sounds disgusting!" He obligingly hooked Aang's arm about his neck, ignoring Aang's subtle overtures for him to move closer, and assisted his protesting friend to his feet. Once they were standing, Aang couldn't whisper the truth of the situation to Zuko at all because Long Feng was practically glaring them down. However, mere seconds later, it stopped mattering entirely.

"Where are the others?" Zuko wondered as he steadied Aang on his feet, frowning when it finally dawned on him that Aang was alone. "Didn't they know you were sick? Why did they just leave you this way?"

"That's an excellent question," Long Feng asked, his eyes suddenly narrowed with suspicion as he too became aware of the teens' conspicuous absence. He speared Aang with a daggered glower. "Where are your friends?"

Sokka, Katara and Toph rushed through the winding corridors of the Earth King's palace, randomly throwing open the various doors they passed in hopes of locating the elusive Earth King. They had intruded upon several nobles and one half naked woman, which had earned Sokka some indignant swats to the head before he was able to back out safely into the corridor and slam the door behind him. And, though they had met with relatively little opposition during their frantic search, Sokka knew that wouldn't stand for very much longer. Eventually, the commotion they were causing was going to draw some attention and their chance to sit down with the Earth King would be lost.

"Toph, we need to know which way!" he said, "We can't keep doing this! That last door almost got me killed!"

"Why are you asking me?" Toph snapped irritably, "What am I? A walking map? This is my first time being here too, you know!"

"But you're the one that can see through walls!" Sokka volleyed back. "That would come in handy right about now!"

"Yeah, I can see through walls," she acknowledged, "But I can only tell you where the people are, not who the people are! Unless the Earth King is wearing a homing beacon, we're still flying blind here! No pun intended."

Sokka's snappy retort to that was swallowed when suddenly half a dozen men in black robes dropped silently from the ceiling above and surrounded them. He flicked Toph a dry, expectant look. "Well, do you think you can do something about this then?"

Aang suddenly popped to attention. He didn't need to contemplate the suspicion darkening Long Feng's features very long. He knew immediately that it was time to leave.

"What do you know?" he espoused in a rejuvenated tone, suddenly straightening, "The pain has completely disappeared! I feel so much better now. There's something to be said about the curative powers of friendship." He bowed respectfully to Long Feng and his guests, furtively catching hold of a confused Zuko's wrist as he did so that he could drag his friend along with him as he made a careful, backwards retreat towards the nearest exit. "My apologies for ruining your evening," he rambled on, "It's been lovely and I hope we can do this again sometime." However, when he pivoted to run, Aang collided with a wall of Dai Li agents. A darting glance about the ballroom revealed that they were blocking every available exit in the room.

Recognizing he and Zuko were trapped, Aang turned back to face Long Feng with an exasperated sigh. "We'd like to leave now, please," he informed the Earth King's advisor calmly.

"You haven't answered my question. Where are your friends?" Long Feng reiterated tightly. "You will not be permitted to leave until I have some answers!"

"They could be any number of places…my friends like to get around," Aang brazened, "Besides, I was sick, remember? Maybe they went to get me some medicine. Actually, I think that's exactly where they went."

While his blatant lie might have been enough to give Long Feng pause, Zuko was now well aware that something more was going on. Aang's fidgety behavior was impossible to ignore. "Aang, what aren't you telling me?" he asked in a hissed aside, "Where are they?"

As Aang was whispering to Zuko to trust him and reassuring him that matters were under control, Long Feng was busy taking matters in control for himself. After dispatching orders to have the area scoured for the three missing teens, he regarded Aang with a penetrating stare. "For the record, I don't believe a word out of your mouth," he stated icily, "Furthermore, I'm not entirely certain you are who you claim to be."

"That's absurd," Zuko dismissed. "Who do you think he is?"

"A Fire Nation spy!"

"He travels with me," Zuko exploded shortly, as if that should be explanation enough, "Do you really think I'd be friends with a Fire Nation spy?"

"The company you keep doesn't necessarily place you in high regard, Avatar," Long Feng sniffed disdainfully, "Frankly, I'm beginning to question your judgment and ability to fulfill your duties."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that your friend's disruptive insolence will no longer be tolerated," he stated implacably. "Ba Sing Se is a peaceful and orderly haven. I will not have it corrupted by radicals and rebels."

"You think Aang's a radical?" Zuko snorted, "Obviously, you don't know him well at all. Yeah, he makes trouble sometimes, but never on purpose."

"I think it is you who do not know him very well," Long Feng countered. He scraped Aang with a haughty once-over. "Whether the trouble he causes is inadvertent or not, it will not be tolerated here! Dai Li, take him now!" However, as the Dai Li moved forward to take Aang into custody, Zuko stepped between them with a warning scowl and threw up his hand to stave off their advance. "Stop right there! What do you think you're doing?" he demanded, bouncing a startled look between Long Feng and the Dai Li.

"Your friend is under arrest, Avatar," Long Feng informed him flatly.

Once again, Zuko blocked the Dai Li's attempt to take Aang. "You're arresting him? For what?" he balked, half incredulous, half irritated, "Having a stomachache? That's insane!"

Long Feng scoffed. "He caused a deliberate scene for the sole purpose of diverting my guards so his friends could sneak away from the banquet," he accused tightly. "I'm sure such an elaborate scheme was staged for a reason and I want to know what that reason is. This young man has proven himself to be manipulative and unruly and he must be dealt with swiftly and harshly."

"I told you my friends went to buy medicine," Aang insisted, "You're going to feel silly sealing off the palace exits when you find out they're already gone."

"Shush up," Zuko hissed to him in an under-breath, "you're not helping matters!" He turned a reasoning look towards Long Feng. "Long Feng, you can't prove that my friend did anything deliberately at all," he argued, "and I'm certain he didn't. I'll vouch for him."

"That is not enough," Long Feng replied.

"It'll have to be," Zuko retorted, "I won't let you arrest him! Let me find the rest of my friends and the five of us can leave without any incident."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that, Avatar," Long Feng disputed calmly.

Acting on his unspoken orders, the Dai Li pushed Zuko aside and closed in around Aang. As they converged to take hold of his struggling friend, Zuko was suddenly assailed with the strangest sense of déjà vu. It hit him so hard and so unexpectedly that he actually stumbled as the feeling overwhelmed him. The entire scene struck him as incredibly familiar. This wasn't the first time he'd witnessed the Dai Li's cool efficiency and gliding stealth when carrying out Long Feng's orders. This scene, this moment had happened before…only not to Aang. It had happened to him.

Without warning, the memory of it all began to assail Zuko in fragmented images, flashing through his brain in a disjointed jumble. The pictures bombarded him one after the other, blinding him with their sudden onslaught. In his mind's eye, he could see a pulsing green light rotating before him. Resolved words, soft and seductive…there is no war within the walls. There is no pain. There is no grief. In Ba Sing Se, we are happy. In Ba Sing Se, we are free.

He had been susceptible to the manipulation because part of Zuko had wanted it to be true. Part of him had needed to forget and that's what he had done. He had forgotten the grief and self-loathing that had been plaguing him almost from the moment he'd awakened from the iceberg. He'd forgotten the pain of losing Appa. He'd forgotten about the blood that stained his hands and crippled his soul. He forgotten he was unhappy…and for a while, it was good, even if it had been a lie.

Now all of those things came rushing back at Zuko along with the truth and somehow the pain was harder to bear a second time. It felt newer, fresher and infinitely more acute. Inevitably, the emotions brought with them more turmoil…rage and frustration, especially when he thought about how his feelings had been toyed with so casually and remorselessly.

As the magnitude of Long Feng's treacherous actions dawned fully on Zuko, he turned disbelieving eyes, opened eyes, up towards the Earth King's advisor. "I know…" he whispered, half dazed, half indignant, "I know what you did to me."

Long Feng only gave a cursory response in between relaying instructions for Aang's detainment. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Zuko grabbed hold of his arm, forcing Long Feng to face him when he accused in a louder, stronger tone, "I know what you did to me, Long Feng. I remember all of it…and now it's over."

Solid fists of sturdy rock flew at them from all directions. Toph, Sokka and Katara dove apart, sectioning off their attackers in their counterattacks. Katara slashed through the fist shaped earth with jetting ribbons of water while Sokka swung his club left and right, smashing the incoming missiles to pieces. Toph bent out a jutting cylinder of rock that knocked back their attackers while simultaneously elevating herself and her friends up onto a platform of earth and out from beneath the second wave. The corridor filled with the choking mist of breaking earth as Toph, Katara and Sokka fought to maintain their freedom.

Unfortunately, for every attack they avoided, they would find themselves swamped with two more. Toph did her best to slow down the enemy's gliding advance, bending herself, Sokka and Katara up and down, in and out on giant columns of rock while Sokka and Katara did what they could to stave off the Dai Li's advance. The ground soon became an uneven mire, bogging down each sides' attempt to gain the upper hand. Toph did what she could to keep the enemy at bay, from erecting large walls of earth as shields, to earth spiking all comers airborne.

However, the Dai Li were a formulated group. They moved almost as one entity. For each successful blow, the responding attack from them was even stronger. Worse still, the more Dai Li she subdued, still more would swarm in to replace them. Toph had the idea that, if she could just gather Sokka and Katara close enough, she'd be able to bend them all to the safety of the gardens she knew were just outside the walls where they fought. Afterwards, they could make a mad dash for Zuko and Aang and get out of there.

Her attackers made it impossible to execute that plan. They kept coming in waves, causing constant divides between her and her friends, so that she was never able to get close to Katara and Sokka. Very soon, defending themselves stopped being an issue for the teens. They merely wanted to escape. Dai Li agents filed into the large corridor like ants, taking positions at various points in the room, effectively surrounding the three teens. They were plainly outnumbered and Toph didn't need her sight to know that.

"What are we going to do?" Katara cried, "There are too many of them!"

No sooner had she voiced the words than a rock hand slammed into Sokka's back, grasping hold of his shirt and yanking him backwards. Katara screamed, but before she could react, the same thing happened to her. Toph quickly crumbled the hold on them, only to find herself locked at the ankles in earth for her effort. She bent herself free, pitching past Dai Li agents in an acrobatic dance of evasion, launching herself forward on springboards of rock. With each landing she made, she could sense through the ground vibrations that more Dai Li had arrived.

Left with few options, Toph made a running dive for Sokka and Katara, hoping to tackle them both and bend them all out of there. Seconds before she reached them, however, her body was wrapped from shoulders to ankles in tight, winding chains that seemed to materialize out of thin air. She hit the ground with a heavy, muted thud. Toph's last clear mental image before her "vision" went impossibly fuzzy was of her friends sharing a similar fate.

"You're not taking him anywhere!" Zuko flared, defiantly bending Aang free of his earthen bonds. "I'm not going to let you do to him what you did to me!" He leveled Long Feng with an accusing finger. "You tried to brainwash me!"

By that point, any semblance of festivities had long since faded. Most of the guests had already gone, but not before being detained by the Dai Li. Those that remained had been compelled to do so by the dramatic turn of events, wanting to see for themselves how matters played out. They had no way of knowing that the evening would not even be a memory for them in a few short hours. However, at that present moment, pandemonium threatened and Long Feng knew he had to take decisive action to contain it. The urgency of the situation reasserted itself for Long Feng when a stunned gasp erupted from the guests at Zuko's accusation. He knew it was time to clear the room and correct matters.

"What a preposterous allegation!" Long Feng scoffed in response, even as he furtively signaled for his agents to reroute the guests so that the ballroom was emptied of all possible witnesses. "This child is obviously delusional."

"Don't call me a child," Zuko spat out darkly, "And don't try to weasel your way out of this! I know exactly what you've done!"

Long Feng flittered his hand indifferently. "Your ploy won't work, Avatar," he said for the benefit of the guest that had yet to be vacated, "These wild accusations are a blatant attempt to keep your friend from being arrested!"

"I'm not making wild accusations! I remember everything your agents did to me…on your orders!" Zuko maintained.

Now it was Aang's turn to be confused and uncertain. He nudged his friend. "Zuko?" he questioned carefully, "What are you talking about? What's going on?"

"He has a secret headquarters under a lake!" Zuko revealed, his steely glare fixed on Long Feng as he spoke. "That day I went for a walk, I came to the palace. Long Feng didn't want me to see the Earth King so he had me taken there…to Lake Laogai. Katara said I was acting strangely and she was right! Long Feng had me brainwashed! He has an entire facility dedicated to it, Aang! It wasn't just me down there! He has this whole city fooled!"

"What a fanciful imagination you have, Avatar," Long Feng laughed, "You could be an excellent storyteller."

Aang regarded Long Feng in open disgust. "What kind of person are you?" he hissed in disbelief, "Does the Earth King have any idea how corrupt you are?"

"I doubt it," Zuko considered stiffly, "Otherwise, he never would have gone to such lengths to keep us away!"

"Well, that's over now! You won't get away with what you've done," Aang told Long Feng, "We won't allow it!"

If Aang had expected Long Feng to be intimidated as a result of the threat, he was sorely disappointed. "You won't allow it?" Long Feng scoffed in amusement. "My boy, I have been in control of Ba Sing Se longer than you have been alive. This is my city. Whatever happens in Ba Sing Se is at my behest and mine only!"

"So the King is just a figurehead," Aang surmised in disappointment.

"He's your puppet!" Zuko accused fiercely, "He's just as much a victim to you as everyone else in this city! You will not get away with this any longer! As Avatar, I am relieving you from your duties and placing you under arrest, effective immediately! Dai Li, take him into custody!"

Not surprisingly, however, the Dai Li did not carry out the order. Some did look indecisive over whether they should stand with Long Feng or not but, for the most part, they remained loyal to the corrupt advisor. As far as they were concerned, the bulk of power still remained with Long Feng and, likewise, so would they.

Still, the wavering among their ranks was a significant thing, even in its subtlety. Long Feng, however, was too blinded by his own hubris to note the ripple of uncertainty among their ranks. He took their loyalty for granted, never recognizing that it was wholly conditional. As far as he was concerned, his position of power was only reinforced with their refusal.

He sneered at Zuko victoriously. "You still do not understand how things work here, do you, Avatar?" he taunted. "You have no authority here. No more than our so called king. I am the law. I am the final word in everything and you have overstayed your welcome."

When the Dai Li moved forward, Zuko was ready. He bounded backwards on a current of air, escaping the grasping tentacles of the chains concealed in their sleeves, and flipping onto the hanging rafters overhead. Pursuing Dai Li found themselves swept back in a forceful gale of wind that sent them tumbling back into an adjacent wall. Zuko further thwarted their recovery by freezing them there with a rigid band of ice.

After it was over, Zuko floated back to the ground to regard Long Feng with dispassionate eyes. "Be sure you want to do this," Zuko warned him. "I was taken by surprise the first time. That won't happen again."

"You are painfully outnumbered, Avatar," Long Feng informed him, flicking a nod to the newly arrived guards and Dai Li agents. "Surrender is your best and only option."

"I'll take my chances," Zuko threw back tersely.

Rather than shaking Long Feng's confidence, however, Zuko's resolved rejoinder seemed to strengthen the Earthbender's arrogance. "Avatar…" he purred in an almost soothing tone, "…the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai."

The words had a dizzying effect on Zuko. His blood whooshed stiffly in his ears. Suddenly, the lines of reality blurred for him once more and, in that moment, he couldn't quite remember what he was fighting or why. It was as if he were sinking into thick, warm goo…willingly drowning. The urgency of the situation seemed to diminish as did his anger. There was no war in Ba Sing Se, his mind whispered seductively, but a different truth altogether hammered in his heart.

He had to remember. He was the last Airbender, all that was left of his culture. He was the Avatar, with a sworn duty to protect the world. Denial of a war was impossible as long as those facts remained irrefutable. Zuko remembered the hurt and pain and sacrifice and grief he'd endured just to make it to that point. It couldn't be for nothing. His people could not have died for nothing. Appa could not have died for nothing. He wouldn't allow that to be true. He wouldn't allow Long Feng to manipulate him so that the loss of them no longer mattered.

Shaking off the last, grasping tentacles of foggy confusion, Zuko fixed Long Feng with a determined glower. "It's not going to work, Long Feng," he spat at the advisor. "I'm going to the Earth King and I'm going to tell him all that you've done here! Your days of ruling this city are done."

"That will never happen!"

The slicing shaft of earth Long Feng sent hurtling towards him was suddenly engulfed in flames by a cracking wall of fire that surrounded the Avatar and his friend like a protective cylinder. Long Feng became positively apoplectic over the display, falling back from the fierce blaze with shock widened eyes. "He's a Firebender!" he spat in stupefied horror, "A Firebender within the walls of Ba Sing Se! Dai Li, seize him! Seize them both now!"

When the roaring flames were efficiently stomped out by large pillars of swiping earth, Aang and Zuko were prepared. Aang provided a steady cover of billowing flames while Zuko sliced through the dizzying bevy of earthen attacks, alternating between counterattacks of water, earth and air. They worked back to back, cutting an inching path through their opposition towards the closest exit. The room became filled with the sounds of crackling and crunching, of thudding earth and sizzling jets of lightning. In gradual turns the elegant ballroom was slowly demolished and became littered with tiny, isolated fires.

Before long it became evident to Long Feng that he was going to have difficulty subduing the Avatar and his firebending friend. The Avatar was skilled and efficient as was his companion. Likely most of the palace would be destroyed in the attempt to arrest them, but the alternative was simply unacceptable to Long Feng. He could not let them go. If they got loose in the city or if they reached the Earth King then they would destroy what had taken him half his life to build. That could not occur. If the palace had to burn…then so be it.

For a certainty it would have come to that as well had Long Feng not received some news that turned the tide of the battle altogether. Abruptly, he ordered his men to stand down, stunning Aang and Zuko into immobility with his unanticipated retreat. Both young men regarded him warily.

"Let us end this now, Avatar! I'm afraid you won't get very far," Long Feng called out to them, "You see…I have something you want."

"I doubt it!" Zuko scoffed.

"Don't be so sure," Long Feng challenged calmly as he directed a consenting nod towards one of his agents. Seconds later, their friends, bound and struggling, were dragged into view. The color instantly drained from Zuko and Aang's faces and Long Feng's smile broadened as he witnessed their unconcealed dismay. "Now that I have your attention," he began smugly, "I will expect your immediate surrender."

"Let them go!" Zuko snapped, "It's me that you want!"

"No. You are in no position to bargain!" Long Feng bit out. "Surrender now! Your friends will not be harmed if you do so quietly. If not…" He gave a subtle turn of his wrist, bending Katara beneath the surface of the ground in a twisting motion so that she disappeared entirely. Ignoring the resultant cries of fury and fear over that, Long Feng said, "I can't be responsible for what happens…"

Zuko and Aang's running attack lasted as long as it took to lock them up to the knees in earth. The moment Zuko bent himself free in an attempt to regroup, however, Long Feng snagged hold of Sokka and held the glistening tip of a dagger to the boy's throat. Sokka swallowed down his squeal of protest, but fear was plainly etched into his features. "Must I teach you another lesson, Avatar?" Long Feng threatened smoothly.

"NO! Okay…okay!" Zuko conceded quickly. "I'll do what you want! I'll surrender! Just don't hurt my friends!"

"As you wish," Long Feng complied, lowering the dagger from Sokka's throat, but not releasing him. A moment later, Katara resurfaced, coughing and gasping for breath, but otherwise unharmed. Zuko and Aang glared at Long Feng with unconcealed hatred as they were chained in the same manner their friends had been. "Take the two girls and the boy to the holding cells beneath the palace. I will figure out what to do with them later," he ordered his men, "As for the Avatar and his firebending friend; I have a special place designated for them. Tomorrow morning, they will both face judgment for their crimes!"

"You won't get away with this!" Zuko spat as they were dragged away.

"Of course, I will," Long Feng replied serenely, "I already have."

"Long Feng, sir?"

At the tentative nudge from his second-in-command, Long Feng opened his eyes. "This had better be urgent for you to disturb me in my bedchamber in the middle of the night," he warned his underling.

"A situation has come up that must be addressed immediately," his agent told him.

Instantly, Long Feng swung upright in bed, completely awake. "What has happened? Is it the Avatar?"

"The Avatar is secured just as you requested," the agent said. "However, a young woman just arrived at the palace a few moments ago. She insists on seeing the Earth King. She says she has information vital to his survival."

Long Feng briefly slumped with relief only to stiffen one second later with annoyed impatience. "You woke me for this?" he snapped curtly, "How many people insist on seeing the Earth King on a daily basis? Each one's reasons is always more important than the last one's. That is hardly urgent news!"

"I haven't told you the rest of it," the agent continued direly, "This girl is Fire Nation…" As Long Feng's eyes widened with interested disbelief, he added, "…and not only that…she's traveling with the Avatar's bison."