Okay, I know this one took very long, but that was because of the end of the chapter, and the editing. And honestly, I have no idea how someone would behave while planning a rebellion in an occupied city, so I changed things quite often, and sat in front of my computer thinking for ten minutes what the next sentence should be, and pooh! Anyway, here it is, and I hope you enjoy!
As always, please leave reviews about things you liked, didn't like, or didn't understand. I'm always looking forward to getting reviews, and it really keeps me going in writing this.
I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender, nor its characters. The only characters I own are my OCs.
Chapter Eighteen
Hideouts and Allies(?)
Kilara
Searching the houses turned out to be way more interesting than I had feared. After seeing that their forms had nothing special, and were not decorated, or anything, I had been pretty disappointed.
But inside… There were treasures!
The crystals seemed to have been the main light source, which was sure practical, since there had been no way to air the houses or even get the smoke out into the open. In general, this city had to have been aired somehow, but I still hadn't figured out how it had worked.
Most of the houses weren't decorated inside, or looked anyhow distinguishable from the others, but sometimes I would find a slab with symbols carved in, looking like an old form of our writing system. Although I wanted to sit down right there and try to decode the scripture, I brought the slabs out, just like we had agreed on.
I couldn't wait to read them.
They would help me understand this lost culture so much more. Maybe Dad would want to help me, although he probably already knew about this, and…
Then it hit me.
Dad did not know about this place.
Why had it not been researched?
There had been an entire city, and according to Nanuk a rather large one, under the capital of the Earth Kingdom, and there had been no scientist, or researcher, or archaeologist to come down here?
Maybe it had been forgotten. Maybe almost no one knew of it.
But we had been down here every evening in one week, and nothing had happened. There couldn't be a virus lingering in the air, or a monster sleeping under the earth. So how and why had this city become abandoned?
According to Nanuk, we still had a large area to cover, which was a very tiring prospective, but until now we had found out that there hadn't been much light down here, which was probably why nothing architectural looked aesthetic in any way. We supposed that there have been a lot of earthbenders living down here, and that the people had relied mostly on earth to do anything, really. Nanuk supposed they had bent tunnels to navigate underground and hunt their food. Other large mammals which lived in caves, or tunnels, such as wolf bats, many different insects, and probably a few smaller mammals such as a fox rabbits.
Since there were no such things as blankets, or wardrobes in the houses, we assumed that the people had mostly worn the fur and skin of their kills. It's not like there existed cave silk worms, and they could have made their own silk or woven other fabric. Nothing down here gave a hint at any sort of agriculture or herding, which was probably because of the lack of sunlight.
We had found a spring, almost in the middle of the city, and had discovered earth bent pipes leading into the houses. Nanuk had used his earthbending to open them, while standing in a very small room, reminding me of a wardrobe, and then water had rained down on him. I had stopped it, before he could become wet, and he had closed the pipe again.
This seemed to me like a pretty progressive concept, since it was just like the shower the Fire Nation had invented, only using machines and metalworking instead of bending. This shower here worked only with earthbending, and it was always cold.
The water also led to a place we assumed was the kitchen of the houses. There stood some sort of table, a cupboard, and bowls made of stone.
Since we didn't find any traces of soot, we thought that the people hadn't used any fire, so they had probably not cooked their food, or heated their water.
All of us didn't look very excited at imagining eating a raw wolf bat.
Today was Sunday, and it had been harder than usual for Nanuk and me to sneak out of the house. Dad had become a bit suspicious, I thought, although I didn't know how. We had been careful all week, and Dad normally didn't talk to us after dinner, so why should he now notice that we weren't even there then?
Denzai hadn't been able to come at all, since he had to spend all evening with his family. Since the occupation they didn't like Denzai to go out so often, which I could of course understand.
So it was just Nanuk and me today.
I loved spending time with him like this, and it felt like our relationship was really fixed. He didn't snap at me, or side commented things alluding things I had done to him, but instead was full back to tease me, annoy me, and show off.
He seemed to trust me again, and I was happier than ever. Not having been able to talk to Nanuk properly had hurt me deeply, and I never wanted to experience that again. Now we were like we had been before. A team, brother and sister, twins, thinking the same things, knowing what the other thought, us against the world.
I knew it, and I embraced its familiar comfort with all I had.
We were at the end of a street, just a wall in front of us.
"There's a cave behind the wall. Maybe another city. Or it could be empty, but it feels…" Nanuk dug his hand deeper into the wall, concentrating deeply, pressing his eyes shut. "…like there's something there."
I nodded. "Okay." I moved to the side, so he had enough space to bend.
Taking a step back he moved his arms, as if he would tear something apart, and a hole in the wall opened, still very silently. Glancing quickly at me Nanuk sighed and climbed through the hole.
I quickly followed him. While climbing through the hole, I could already see that the cave here was also lit by crystals, but apart from that it was only a cave. Standing next to Nanuk I looked around, and tried not to be too disappointed. It was a beautiful cave, after all. The crystals grew out of the ground, the walls, which seemed angular to the ground. Blinking I noticed there were several holes in the walls, as if animals had been digging tunnels down here. Or humans?
"And now?" I asked, when Nanuk stomped his foot down, and frowned.
"Hm… I guess it is further away," he murmured.
"What do you mean?" I wanted to know, stemming my hands on my hips.
"The thing I was talking about," he replied and marched on to yet another wall.
I stepped back again, watching my brother bending the earth with absolute accurate movements, which were mirrored in the straight lines in which he forced the earth apart.
The tunnel he had bent this time was way longer than the hole from before.
We walked through quickly, and I blinked when I could suddenly feel water. It was probably just another spring.
We stepped onto a square. There was no other way to describe it.
It was almost as large as the port for the refugees' ferries, but strangely, this seemed to be bent by more measurements. Square water basins, a bit too thin to be a channel, in the middle, for example.
The columns which were overloaded by crystals, on the other hand, looked naturally grown, not bent by humans.
On the walls surrounding the square were many other houses bent into the rock, only with holes for windows and doors. Stairs lead from one of them to another, and they went up high to the ceiling.
"Is this…" I gasped. "This could be like a market place, or something like that."
Nanuk's mouth stood a bit open. "Uh-huh."
Just when I wanted to walk further into the square, I sensed something familiar, then I felt the ground under my feet vibrate. My head snapped towards Nanuk, who had already settled in a defensive earthbending stance.
"It's better if we'll just hide, Nanuk," I whispered.
Narrowing his eyes at me he nodded and bent the ground to slowly sink in. In the round and narrow hole I could only see the rock walls surrounding us, and noticed that it was way darker than above. Nanuk had left a tiny hole open for air, and so that we'd be able to hear what the intruders might say.
"They're humans," I whispered, now feeling for their body water. "They move quickly."
And then we heard a loud smash, sounding as if an earthen wall had burst.
The humans scattered quickly around the place, forming a square with people in it. Two stood in front of the square.
Then they started moving. It were earthbending forms, but it seemed to me like a different style than the one Nanuk used. More stealthy, elegant, and almost soundless.
My heart started to beat faster, when I imagined them to be a rebellion group. What kind of luck would that be that we had simply walked in on them?
"What should we do?" Nanuk whispered.
"They are far enough away," I gave back. "I think we can stay here, and wait. Either until they do something interesting, or until they'll leave."
"But it's getting late. You'll need your beauty sleep," my brother complained.
I narrowed my eyes. "Not as much as you do, bat head."
"Hey!"
"Sshhh!"
Concentrating on the movements of the earthbenders was very tiring. I had never tried to keep a "look" on that many bodies at the same time, and they were all moving so fast, and unpredictably. I told Nanuk what I could "see" and leaned back on the wall, my eyes closed.
The earthbenders stopped eventually their training, and started to wander around.
Frowning I concentrated stronger, since it was even more difficult to be aware of all of them now that they were doing all different things. I tried to put the concentration mostly on the area surrounding Nanuk and my hiding place.
"They come closer," I said quietly. "When I'll give you a sign, you'll have to bend us out of here."
He nodded grimly.
"But first I want to see who they are."
"Rebels don't bend like that," Nanuk shot back. "So don't get your hopes up. That was definitely some sort of elite fighting troupe."
Since Nanuk knew more about earthbending than me I would have to trust him, but I didn't like to. It would have been so prefect, if they were rebels.
But he was right. They had moved way too trained, so synchronic, and almost militarily.
"Dai Li," I mouthed at Nanuk, whose eyes widened immediately.
"Maybe," he mouthed back, just when I felt quick steps coming our way.
I squeezed Nanuk's arm, looking up to the hole, holding my breath while waiting. My heart beat heavily, resounding in my ears, making my whole body vibrate, and I felt some sweat on my forehead.
The person jumped up at the edge of our hole, and I knew they wanted to jump right into it, instead of looking carefully down. I had only seconds to produce the information, but my body immediately tensed, while I prepared for anything hostile.
The person who appeared at the edge was a man who wore a long dark robe with the green insignia of the Earth Kingdom on his chest. A round pointy head in a dark green adorned his head, glinting in the light of the crystals, as if it were made of metal.
Dad's voice returned to me within milliseconds, telling us how Dai Li agents looked like.
I squeezed Nanuk's arm tighter, and he immediately created a barrier of earth between us and the Dai Li agent.
The next things I noticed was that the ground suddenly moved down, unexpectedly fast.
"Nanuk!"
"Huh?" I couldn't see a thing anymore, but my brother didn't sound as alarmed as I had thought he would.
"Are you doing this?" I shouted over the noise of earth crumbling.
"Yeah," he only said, and I pressed myself flat against the wall, giving him enough space to bend our pod like capsule through the earth.
"Are we going fast?" I asked, because it was impossible to feel.
Since there wasn't a tunnel or anything alike Nanuk had to bend the earth first out of the way or force our capsule through the ground. I didn't know how he did it, but I only heard the earth rumble, and I felt that we were moving, but I didn't know how fast.
"I'm trying," he grit between his teeth. "But I've never done that before, Kira!"
"What about the Dai Li?"
"I don't know. I'm a bit busy here, I cannot feel any other vibrations than the one I'm causing! Look yourself if you want to know if they're closing in!" he snarled, still bending.
Closing my eyes I tried to, but since we constantly changed our position it was hard to actually do so.
However, there was some water at the back of my mind, but it felt like a deep blur, no defined extremities or anything which reminded me of a body. Was it Dai Li agents, moving so fast and far away that my mind couldn't grasp them?
"Nanuk, I need more space! I need to step into a bending stance!"
"What for?"
"Just do it!"
The wall in front of me moved away, and I could widen my stance.
"Thanks!"
Moving into a bending stance, I stretched my arms into the direction I felt the water, concentrating on the push and pull and letting me feel it inside my veins.
Then I found it. The heartbeat. The push and pull I felt was conditioned by a heartbeat, and I could feel blood rushing through veins, too. I felt humans, Dai Li agents. And they were moving fast, closing in. I had never tried to bloodbend bending people, nor two men at the same time. I had only ever bloodbent one human at once, and had had to bend several animals at the same time, too, but I had never tried it with two men.
Mum had always said that it wasn't that different to bend humans from animals. Both would struggle and be afraid of it, both would try to resist and to escape. But both had water in them, and that's why I could control them.
They would get us, if I didn't do something. The next time I felt the push I grasped the water and held on to it. The agents stopped moving, and I felt relief rushing through me that I didn't have to see their shocked and pained faces. Bloodbending without seeing the victim was a lot easier, I found out.
Closing my eyes, I opened my mind completely to the foreign water in their bodies, feeling it, as if I were a part of it, then I found this one point and pressed on it.
Their bodies immediately stopped resisting, and as I let go of their blood they simply fell to the ground.
I took a deep breath, as if I had been under water and grasped onto the rock wall in front of me again, panting heavily. Without the weekly practice, Mum had always insisted on, it became sure more difficult to use bloodbending without a full moon. Maybe I should start practising it more often. After all, it did save us now.
But then a way larger blurry mess of water appeared above our heads, moving just as fast as the other two. Crap.
Nanuk wouldn't get us out of here. I had to try it.
I started with the bodies that were closest to us, and soon felt that it became easier the more agents I made unconscious. While I still had had to concentrate with the first victims, it felt more natural, almost routinely with the agents I worked now on.
"Kira! Are they close?"
"They won't get us!" I said, my voice deep as I decided to use my arms to incapacitate them faster.
"That's not what I asked!" Nanuk answered.
Frowning I tried to block him out, so I could better concentrate on the mass of agents bending above our heads to get closer to us. How did they even know where we were? Could they feel the vibrations Nanuk caused? As far as I knew there were very few earthbenders who were even aware of this skill. I only knew my brother and Toph Beifong, who could do that.
The earthbenders, however, were still too many. How many of them had been there? It must be hundreds!
I suddenly felt a little dizzy, because the air got bad, and it became warmer in here.
"Nanuk! Stop getting us down! We have to go up and south!"
"I have no idea where south is from here!"
"Keep the direction, but move up a bit. We're sinking too much!"
My conversation had abled two agents to get closer to us than any of them before, but I shortly reached out with my mind, and felt with a weird satisfaction that their bodies became limp, falling to the ground like a wet potato sack.
It was probably gravity, but the moment Nanuk bent the earth to get us up again, I could feel it. The earth pushed under my feet, as if it were forcing me to go up again.
Damn, I needed some fresh air. It was getting very sticky in here.
Because my mind was so focused on the water following us I didn't sense any other water, until it was almost too late.
"There's no earth ahead!" Nanuk yelled, just when we crashed out of a wall.
It was one of these very rare moments in life, when a situation feels like going on in slow motion. We had fallen into a gorge, another rock wall in front of us, and glowing crystals on both sides, illuminating the cave only dimly, but after minutes of complete darkness I felt blinded for a second. Rocks, Nanuk and I flew straight out of the one side of the gorge, our direction still going straight for a few seconds, before gravity suddenly did its work.
I know Nanuk and I paddled with our arms out of instinct, but I actually felt something in that moment.
There was water underneath us. A coursing river rushed to the left, sharp rocks pointing out, and the noise was deafening.
I bent the water up to catch our fall, so that we wouldn't get crushed by the rocks. The moment we hit the surface, I bent a thin layer of water around our heads, keeping the bubble stable as we slowly sank, and moved with the current.
I mostly didn't see anything down there, only heard Nanuk's terrified gasps, but I felt him clutch onto my tunic, too.
The water moved so wild, and it was hard to concentrate on the interruptions in the stream, indicating rocks our bubble needed to move around, and trying to keep the control over the bubble, while the current tried to force its way through, onto us.
I had never needed to bend so much, in so many different life threatening situations, in an environment I wasn't used to at all.
Tears streamed down my face, while I was wishing that it would just end. I wanted to be home, safe and sound, not worrying about keeping my brother and me alive. Apparently I didn't even need Princess Azula to threaten me, since I seemed to be able to endanger our lives all by myself.
My muscles began to ache, and my legs started to wobble. I wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.
"We have to…," I panted,"…get out of here! Ready?"
"Ready."
With everything I had left I bent the wildly rushing water under us to my will to form a column to move us up.
I almost let us fall, when a very powerful wave hit us, but I managed to get a grip on the column again, when it called pull to me, tightened my grip on the water, and shifted my weight. I moved to the other side, stretching out my arms, and the column shot up, as if it were throwing us out of the river.
"Nanuk!"
He moved his hands, and from the wall next to us a platform shot out. Widening my eyes I prepared myself for the landing. Rolling up, I spared my body any serious damage and stood up again.
Nanuk stood next to me, probably having rolled up, too, and panted heavily.
I wanted to smile, or to laugh, because we had made it! We were still alive! This was the craziest and most dangerous thing that had ever happened to us, but we made it! I felt like we would be able to achieve anything!
But then black dots suddenly darkened my vision, forming one big spot, which I tried to blink away. What happened?
Everything I heard became muffled, and I felt my legs shaking.
I understood that my body was too exhausted to work anymore, that there was too little blood in my brain to keep standing anymore just a second, before I hit the floor.
"Kiraaaa!" I could still hear my brother shouting, but it sounded as if it were far away.
Then I lost consciousness.
oOo
The next day Denzai appeared at our house after school with a bag full of paper and pens, grinning wildly.
"What's that for?" I asked. "I don't recall Prof Chiu said anything about using as many colours as possible for homework."
I felt Nanuk sneaking up on us, and I wondered if he would never understand that he couldn't sneak up on me, just how I couldn't sneak up on him.
"No, it's for flyers. I thought we should start making the people think about a rebellion with flyers," he said, after he had pushed himself into the house, making me stumbling a bit.
"Oh no!" Nanuk immediately interposed. "Kira will not participate in such things!"
Denzai blinked at him. "Why not?"
"Because it's too dangerous," my brother said, folding his arms in front of his chest and nodded to himself.
I rolled my eyes.
"Uh, because she could cut herself with the paper?" Denzai tried, his voice higher than usual in question.
"No, Nanuk's being paranoid. That's all," I said, already bored with Nanuk's fussing. He hadn't left my side the whole last day, after I had regained consciousness still in the tunnels. He had carried me on a makeshift bed of rock, and had tried to bend us back to a safe place on the surface. I had tried to tell him to take a break, but he had insisted that I needed to get into bed straight away. Finally being home, he had tucked me in, brought me water, tea, and dinner, insisting that I shouldn't leave bed for the whole evening.
I had even needed to fight him in the morning to go to school.
It's not like I wasn't worried at all. I didn't like thinking about losing consciousness, but I was very sure it had only been because I had overworked myself. That had been just too much bending, too tiring, and too exhausting.
"Paranoid? You fainted!" Nanuk growled.
"What?" Denzai asked, eyes big with worry as he turned towards me.
Rolling my eyes I quickly grabbed Denzai's bag and walked into my room, the two boys running after me instantly.
"I had simply overworked myself, and hadn't drunk enough during the day. Nothing to really worry about," I explained and set the bag down on my carpet, sitting down next to it, looking through it, wanting to know what Denzai had brought us exactly.
"But that could happen again, if we continue with this stupid plan!" Nanuk snarled, tapping his foot and stemming his hands on his hips. "And you could this time hit your head!"
I looked up. "Okay, look. I know you're worried, but I promise to take better care of myself, alright?"
He only narrowed his eyes.
"We defeated Dai Li agents, Nanuk! A whole bunch of them!" I exclaimed, stretching my arms out. "That's something to celebrate, so stop being so moody."
"You what?" Denzai asked.
"We didn't defeat them, we just managed to get away fast enough!" Nanuk shot back. He shook his head. "I just don't think that this will end well. We were lucky yesterday, but one day we won't be, and then…" He sighed.
I frowned, not liking how he voiced my own worries. But our lives weren't more important than the Earth Kingdom's freedom. The sooner he'd understand this, the better.
"Anyway," I said, drawing the vowels out. "What exactly did you have in mind, Denzai?"
He blinked, looking back at Nanuk, who was still scowling, and scratched his neck. "Actually… I think we should maybe wait with that."
I shook my head. "No, we already lost our possible hideout. The Dai Li are there sometimes. They trained yesterday in a great hall, and since Nanuk didn't have the time to crush the tunnels he had created before, we think they found our wasp beehives. So, we cannot just stop. One failure only means that all the other things have to work better. But it won't make us give up." I concentrated on Denzai's face, but I could see Nanuk rolling his eyes.
My younger friend chewed a bit on his lip, looking undecided.
"Let's just make the flyers. There won't be any harm in that, right? And then we could still wait with actually distributing them," I said, but then raised a finger. "Actually, you should probably leave them here, Denzai, after we're finished."
"Why?" he asked in confusion.
"Because you can't risk being seen with those. What if a soldier or an agent stops you and asks you to empty your bag?"
He opened his mouth to reply, but Nanuk cut in. "As if that would happen."
"Why not? I was already stopped by soldiers," I said, crossing my arms.
Nanuk narrowed his eyes. "What did you do?"
"I was just looking around." I shrugged, sounding nonchalantly. "Finding out where soldiers were stationed and what their task was around the school ground, you know."
He groaned. "That's exactly what I've been talking about all this time. Stop acting so suspicious. The moment this rebellion will become reality, you would probably already be a suspect, if you continue this!"
"I'm just a teenage girl. As if I could plan a rebellion."
"A teenage girl also conquered this city. I don't think that the military or the Dai Li would consider you weak, just because of your age and gender."
"But I'm not royalty. We're just peasants to them. And still. Denzai has to leave the flyers here. Or else he could be in danger." I threw him a pointed glance, and he swallowed.
"Yes, of course. Totally. Thanks for your concern." Denzai smiled weakly at both of us.
Nanuk was still pouting, and huffing indignantly, when we finally came up with some sentences to write on the flyers:
Free the Earth Kingdom!
Out With the Ashmakers!
Occupation Is Not an Improvement!
For the Freedom of the Earth People!
Our Government Should Lie In Our Hands!
We Are Not Na Sing Se!
We Are the IMPENETRABLE City!
oOo
"I can't believe we finally did this!" Denzai grinned, clapping his hands in excitement. If he were an airbender, he would probably float because of his happiness.
"Yeah, me neither. I'm glad someone," I leaned in Nanuk's direction, "finally saw reason."
My brother rolled his eyes. "I told you it had nothing to do with it. But letting you two out alone? It would probably end in disaster."
I rolled my eyes now. "More like the other way around."
"What?"
"Nothing."
I looked around the terrace of the restaurant we sat in, observing the people on the street.
It hadn't been easy to distribute the flyers. We had all disguised ourselves, and we had to run away from Fire Nation soldiers quite a few times, when they had noticed that it was us distributing the flyers.
Some people had reacted really shocked at our boldness, or perhaps they also didn't know about the Fire Nation's cruelty, but others had smiled. Some had looked hopefully at the flyer, others had come back to pick up more, saying they would give them to others.
Of course, there was a high risk of people reporting to the fire military, but since we had been in disguise, I didn't think anyone would actually recognise us.
"So… What are we going to do next?" Denzai asked, slurping his noodle soup.
It was already evening, since the whole action had taken us the whole day. Denzai and I had spent the last day with loads of homework, so that we wouldn't have to do anything today.
"What do you mean?" Nanuk asked.
"For… you know what."
I frowned. "Didn't we agree on calling it 'the cabbage cart'?"
Denzai shot me a dry look. "You agreed on it with yourself. We think the name is stupid."
"It is perfect. No one would ever guess the real thing we're talking about!"
"But it sounds stupid! Why can't you come up with a cool name?"
"Operation volcano eruption? You know, because there's lava, and it's like hot rock, so fire and earth in a way…" I proposed, but knew that 'cabbage cart' was way better.
Nanuk shook his head. "That's too obvious. People might find out the real thing."
"That's why 'cabbage cart' is so perfect!" I snarled.
Both rolled their eyes.
What was their problem? I was totally right about the name. Just because it didn't fit their masculine longing to be cool! Urgh!
"Well, we need to find out how to get the cabbage cart rolling," I said.
"What?"
"If you two don't understand what I'm talking about, then we should talk about it in a crystal place, where it won't be necessary to use festival names," I snarled.
We had agreed on using "crystal place" for safe place and "festival names" for code names.
But my brother and friend still stared at me as if I were an idiot.
How would we ever make this rebellion work, if they couldn't even learn our code language?
"Just study our scent sheet!"
"What does she want?" Denzai mouthed at Nanuk.
"I think she wants us to take a bath," Nanuk whispered, throwing me a sideway glance.
Urgh!
It meant vocabulary sheet.
oOo
"Do you think it was okay to trust them?" Denzai asked, his hands fidgeting, while we were walking to an unknown district of the lower ring. His parents thought he was studying at my place, and Dad thought Nanuk and I had taken Denzai to the zoo.
"They didn't lie," Nanuk only said, shrugging.
I bit down on my lip, shaking my head. "We cannot trust anyone, but we can choose to believe that they really want to help."
A couple had talked to us yesterday, told us that we should talk to Guozhi, the owner of a pub in the north of the lower ring, if we wanted our "silent rebellion" to become a loud one. The woman had told us that Guozhi had moved to Ba Sing Se a few years ago, having lost everything because of the Fire Nation, and had a large net of connections to various people.
So we had decided to go there today. It was still early, right after school, still a few hours until dinner, so there would probably not be that many customers.
We had tried to look more adult today, so it wouldn't look strange to see three teenagers walking into a pub. Only Nanuk had ever been to one before, with Yao, Peizhi and Rong, and had told us that it had been loud and fun.
I had no idea what to expect of a pub, since no one had ever told me about one, and no story I had read had ever been set in a pub. It made me nervous in a very uncomfortable way, since I seldom had to deal with so unknown situations.
"I really hope this wasn't a mistake," I murmured.
Nanuk laid his arm around my shoulder. "Hey. It's still light, and we are only three kids, right? If something might happen to us, we only have to cry out loud, and some good souls will show up to save us."
"Not if we're attacked by the Fire Nation," I pointed out.
"But that's the point of the cabbage cart. Even if we get scammed, the good thing will be that other people will notice it, probably have pity, and decide to have a look at our cabbages, and maybe even buy something," Denzai said, smiling softly at me.
It was refreshing and strengthening to see him always so positive. He really believed in this, our rebellion, our plan, and I always felt better knowing he did. After all, Denzai had a highly intelligent mind, but still believed that we could succeed. He also never wanted to fight or be a fighter, but now he was actively helping us to get rid of an occupation. And I would do my best not to let him down.
Nanuk gave my shoulder a squeeze, and I smiled at him.
Three days ago I had forced them to study our vocabulary sheet and to memorise it. The one who had fastest known everything by heart had got iced fruit juice on sticks from me. Of course, that had been Denzai, but after that we had all eaten almond cakes, and Nanuk had stopped grumbling. The vocabulary sheets were obviously burnt right after that.
We had to ask a few people on the street to show us directions to Guozhi's pub. Most of them seemed confused why three teenagers wanted to go there. Theoretically, alcohol was forbidden until the age of eighteen, but many sixteen year olds already got alcoholic drinks from pubs.
It seemed like an ordinary house from the outside, painted in green, many wooden beams within the walls, and a wooden shield over the pub's entrance, saying "The Armadillo Lion".
Raising my eyebrows, I looked at my brother and friend, wanting to know what they were thinking.
Denzai's face lit up. "This is a sign," he whispered.
Nanuk's face contorted. "Why is that a sign?"
"Is it good? Is it bad?" I wanted to know.
"It's good, very good," said Denzai quietly, nodding.
"So you've been here before or what?" Nanuk wanted to know, stretching his arms over his head.
"No. But its name. Back in the day when the four nations hadn't existed yet, the animals had travelled much more than now. Dragons didn't stay in the Fire Nation all the time, for example. They are really big and strong. Almost no one could win against them. Maybe an army, or a really powerful firebender, but it was said that large cats from the Earth Kingdom managed to take them down, too," he told us in a secretive voice.
A wide smile spread on my lips. "Wow. I definitely do call that a good sign!"
Nanuk furrowed his brow. "But there aren't any dragons anymore."
"It's a metaphor!" I hissed. "The dragon is the Fire Nation and the Armadillo Lion is the Earth Kingdom. Or us. Because we will be able to drive them out of our city." Keeping my voice down, I raised my eyebrows at my brother.
"Oh! Yeah, got that." He smirked, giving me a thumb's up.
Oh boy.
Then we pulled the door open, walking inside.
The room had a high ceiling, and balconies were arranged at the first floor on the walls to look down into the hall. Everything was made of a dark brown wood, making the room look very obscure. There were many dark corners for illegal business, pai sho tables, round and square tables, and the bar in the middle. Sunlight shone on it, it must have come from a window in the roof.
Except for older people playing pai sho, the pub seemed empty.
Cautiously we made our way to the bar, looking for the bartender. It appeared to be a pretty, curvy young woman, maybe ten years older than us. Her hair was brown and curly, and her light green eyes shone brightly out of her tanned skin. She wore a tight green top, which left her stomach free and the fabric of brown trousers appeared on her hips. Her hair was pulled to one side by several small braids on the other side, and her right eyebrow was pierced by a little metal ring.
"Huh, aren't you a bit too young to come here?" she asked, her voice strong and pleasant.
"We wanted to talk to Guozhi?" I asked, straightening up. "We heard he owned the pub and could help us with something," I said.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she continued to smile. "Well, then you've come to the right place. What do you want with Guozhi?" she asked.
"That's only our and Guozhi's business," Nanuk replied, his arms crossed.
The woman raised an eyebrow, but didn't look more pissed at my brother. She actually looked amused, as if a little kitten tried to frighten her.
"Oh. Is that so?" She crossed her arms under her breasts and shifted her weight. "Well, then it's good that I'm Guozhi."
I immediately narrowed my eyes. "Isn't that a name for men?"
She smiled. "And a family name. So, what can I do for you?"
Denzai, Nanuk and I all looked at each other, checking if we were okay with proceeding. Since I didn't get any negative or hesitant vibes from them, I turned around, feeling resolve hitting.
"It's better to talk about it in private," I said.
Her eyebrows rose a bit more, then she grimaced and shook her head. "I'm sorry, kids, but my days of freeing people from prison are over. But I think Tao Hu could help you. He lives three streets north from…"
"We're not here because of this," I interrupted, and shoved a flyer towards her on the counter.
Denzai gasped, and I heard Nanuk cursing, but I thought I knew I was doing the right thing.
Guozhi still looked as if she didn't take us seriously, and threw a glance at the flyer. Her eyebrows quickly shot up.
Since her expression didn't give any indication whether she liked what she read or not, I tensed, and laid my hand on my water flask. Maybe my idea hadn't been so good, after all.
But then she pressed her eyes shut, and took a deep breath, pinching the back of her nose.
The move reminded me of Zuko. But just for a tiny second.
"Alright. Let's talk about this somewhere else," she said, her voice suddenly a bit deeper, as if her mood had just worsened.
"Er…" But there was nothing to ask of her now. If she led us into a trap, she could still lie to us if I asked her now what she was thinking about the flyer.
Again knowing that all of this could be a big mistake, I took the flyer back, and followed her. I tried not to look at Denzai and Nanuk, since I wouldn't be able to stand the thought, if this really was a trap, that they could get harmed.
On the right side of the bar was a door leading to a staircase and a hallway. Guozhi walked down the hallway, waving us to motion to follow her further.
Like the pub, the hallway and the staircase were solely built of wood, letting rays of sunshine through thin gaps in the construction. There were also windows, but when I looked outside, I couldn't see the street we had been to before. The only thing visible there were clotheslines.
At the end of the hallway Guozhi led us to a small office with two chairs, one desk, a fireplace, and a few bookshelves. The desk was overloaded with paper, scrolls and notebooks, while the bookshelves only contained two books and a few candles per shelf. Light shone through the shutters, giving the room a dusty end-of-the-day kind of light.
We all walked in, but had to lean against the bookshelves, since there really wasn't much space for us.
Guozhi stood on the other side of the desk, after closing the door, and sat down. Raising her eyebrows she gestured to the one left chair. "Please, sit."
Turning my head I looked questioningly at Denzai and Nanuk, who stepped forward and bent two more chairs out of the ground.
I rolled my eyes, when I sat down.
Leaning forward Guozhi studied us, her eyes narrow, as she seemed to reflect on something. "So… you three want to get rid of the Fire Nation?"
I nodded.
Her amused smile appeared again, making me a bit irritated. "How old are you?"
Taking a deep breath I hindered myself from rolling my eyes.
"We're fifteen," Nanuk answered.
"All of you?" She asked.
We nodded.
"You're twins," she stated, nodding at Nanuk and me.
We looked at each other, but nodded. Yep, we did look very similar, and if you have two siblings who both have the same age the possibility that they're twins is pretty high.
"Could you please tell us now if you can help us?" Denzai asked, sounding polite and shy as always.
I turned to look at him, seeing his forward leaning form, his big eyes and his soft smile. At the same time he managed to look worried.
Twisting her mouth Guozhi looked us up and down. "Maybe. I won't talk to the authorities about you, that's for sure."
We all were releasing a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding.
"So," leaning forward, Guozhi leaned her elbows on the table, pressing her fingers together. "What exactly do you want from me?"
Staring into her eyes I took a deep breath. "We want to raise a rebellion. We distributed these flyers, hoping we could already stir some disturbances. But we need a plan, and we need people. We need benders, experienced fighters and strategists. We seek those people very carefully, so it does take a while, but yesterday we were told you might want to help us." Swallowing I shortly glanced at Nanuk and Denzai. "We were told you lost everything because of the Fire Nation, and had good connections. So we thought we'd just ask you."
Guozhi had laid her chin on her hands, and stared at me with an unreadable expression.
This situation made me very uncomfortable, for there was something about this woman, which reminded me of Princess Azula. It was probably the intelligence and the unpredictability I could see in her eyes. I knew near to nothing about this woman, and that made me afraid.
Sighing she leaned back against the rest of her chair.
I noticed how Nanuk bent a rest on his chair, too.
"Kona," Denzai whispered, addressing Nanuk with his fake name.
Guozhi blinked at him.
Turning towards him I saw that he tried not to look suspicious. "Can you please bend me a rest, too?"
Nanuk raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because that would be more comfortable," Denzai answered, still talking out of the corner of his mouth, and leaning in Nanuk's direction.
I shot Nanuk a "just-do-it" glare, and turned back to pay closer attention to Guozhi.
She seemed to be amused again.
Great.
Denzai got a rest, and sighed.
I glared at him.
"So who are you anyway?" Guozhi asked. "I cannot just tell you if you have my support or not without knowing anything about you." Raising an eyebrow she pointed at the three of us.
Oh. Yeah, right.
"I am Liwei, this is my brother Kona, and that's our friend Shoi-ming. Shoi-ming and I are studying to get our UMDB, and Kona wants to become an architect assistant," I said, since I was the one of us who lied best, and who adapted more quickly to the fake names.
Guozhi's eyes narrowed a little bit, but then she only shrugged. "Okay, but why do you want the Fire Nation out? Why are you actually doing something? There are so many people in Ba Sing Se, and you're the only ones I've seen who want to start a rebellion."
"The Fire Nation killed our mother!" Nanuk hissed, his hands curled to fists.
I frowned at that. This was not my reason for wanting the Fire Nation to leave. And it shouldn't be his, either.
"They raged war on the whole world, and now they conquered the Earth Kingdom! If we don't do something, they will soon conquer the Water Tribes, too, and then the whole world will be under the Fire Lord's regime!" My brother sat up straight, leaning towards the table. "I don't know about you, but we don't want to live in such a world! We don't want to live under those ashmonsters!"
Opening my mouth I wanted to protest or to add something to not make us seem to be so full of hatred, but I saw Guozhi's lips twitching.
"Hm." She smiled, leaning back. "I think I like you kids. And there might be something I can do for you. But first, tell me your real names."
Urgh. I knew she had something in common with Princess Azula. Both had not believed my lies.
But frowning at her I shook my head. "I'm sorry, but we're going to keep our real names to ourselves. We're only children, and we revealed a lot of us to you, but we have to take some security measures."
Her gaze seemed calculating, as she looked me up and down. "Fine. Well, my first name is Cuiling. And yes, I lost everything because of the Fire Nation." Her expression changed slightly, while she frowned and her eyes got that look which one has when one is looking at something entirely else, at another place, another time.
"And do you know anyone who could help us?" Denzai tried.
Her sharp eyes rushed back at him, and a smile crooked her lips. "Of course. I know a lot of people. You know, I think I'm going to celebrate my birthday in three days here, and I'm going to invite some of those people. Why don't you just come, too?"
Nanuk cocked his head to the side. "Really, how old are you? And should we bring presents along?"
Slowly I closed my eyes and tried not to look too embarrassed, or as if I would like to call him an idiot.
"Wow. You're not of the clever sort, are you?" Cuiling asked, and I dared to open my eyes again.
Bad decision.
My brother grinned widely at the elder woman and flexed his biceps in front of her. "Nope, I'm more the brawns part of brains and brawns."
What I had not expected was Cuiling to burst into laughter, her head bent back and her hair flying, when she shook her head. "Aw man, I think I like you. Kona, was it?"
Nanuk nodded, still grinning.
"You remember fake names?" Denzai asked, and Cuiling shrugged.
"Well, I'll have to call you something."
Taking a deep breath I tried to think about the best next thing to do. We couldn't just leave, and come back in three days. There were still too many questions unanswered to us. But if we didn't want to answer Cuiling's questions, then it was dumb to expect her to answer ours.
But still.
"How do we know we can trust you?" I asked, raising one eyebrow and tried to look as suspicious as possible.
Her lips curled again, as if I amused her. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked back.
I only shot her a dry look. "We're fifteen. We're from the Earth Kingdom. Why wouldn't we want the Fire Nation out?"
"You could have been bought or something," she mused in a nonchalant tone. "You could be war children, raised by the Fire Nation and used as spies, since you don't look like Fire Nation people." With that she leaned a bit more forward, resting her chin on her hands again.
I cocked my head to the side. "Same thing could be said about you."
She smiled again, but then shrugged. "Fine. Here's the truth. I am fully from the Earth Kingdom, no other nations. I grew up in a small village in the Kolau Mountains, but I left when I turned eighteen. I travelled around the Earth Kingdom for a while, but then I met my husband, and we settled down in the western Earth Kingdom. Four years ago the Fire Nation attacked our village, and we had to flee. My husband got captured, but I managed to make it out." She took a deep breath, her eyes once again looking at the past. "Then I did everything I could to find him, and I did, two years ago. I sneaked into a prison, started a riot, and escaped with him. But he was severely wounded from… punishments, and worn out from prison work. We went to Ba Sing Se, and hoped to start a new life here, away from the war. But I had to realise that running from this war doesn't save anyone." Pressing her lips tightly together Cuiling stared at the wood of her desk, before looking back at us.
Denzai sniffed.
Surprised, I turned towards him.
"That sounds like a true love story. How you searched for him, and you even went into a prison!" he exclaimed, looking unbelievably sad, but admiring at the same time. "That's so brave!"
Cuiling's smile didn't seem mocking or amused this time at all, but genuine, which made me believe that she was telling the truth.
I still stole a glance at Nanuk, who was frowning at her. I nudged him into his elbow, and he raised his index finger from his lap.
When he raised his thumb, it meant, that a person didn't lie. Index finger meant that they were holding back on something, and little finger indicated a liar. Nanuk and I had come up with that a few days ago. Until now I had always just been able to ask him if someone was lying, when they were gone, but now it was really necessary for me to know about it a bit sooner.
Holding something back was probably not a bad thing, I supposed. Still I leaned forward and fixed her with narrowed eyes.
"Do you have any mutual interest with the Fire Nation?"
Cuiling's face fell pretty fast, and I could tell she was starting to get annoyed, angry even. "No," she said slowly.
"Do you work for them?"
"No."
"Do you spy for them?"
"No."
"Have you got any acquaintances from the Fire Nation?"
"No."
Nanuk raised his little finger, and I wasn't sure how to react. Should I downright call her out on a lie or wait and try to find out who that acquaintance was?
I decided that I wouldn't say anything about it. It would be better for her not to know that we had a way to find out if someone was lying or telling the truth.
Since I didn't want Cuiling to become even angrier, I decided to stop it here. Nodding, I leaned back again.
"Okay. We will trust you. For now," I added, steeling my gaze.
Her raised eyebrow wasn't amused this time, either. I would actually say that she looked impressed. "What about you?"
"Liwei and I are twins, as you found out already," Nanuk began. "We were born in Gaoling, lived on Kyoshi and in Makapu Village. Then we lived in a tiny village close to Gaoling again with our uncle. Our father took us to Ba Sing Se, just a few months ago."
"You didn't say anything about your ancestry," Cuiling remarked, and her gaze turned hard.
"Our father is from the Earth Kingdom," I said. "Our mother was from the Northern Water Tribe."
Cuiling cocked her head to the side, and studied Nanuk and me. "Hm, yeah, I can see it now." She obviously had decided to leave it be, because she turned towards Denzai. "What about you?"
Swallowing he sat a bit straighter. "I was born and raised in Ba Sing Se. Until the Fire Nation occupied the city, I had no idea that there was a war. Liwei told me about everything the Fire Nation had done, killing all the Air Nomads and so on. They have disturbed the world's balance, and I am sick of being lied to, of being manipulated and oppressed. I want the Earth Kingdom to be free," he explained passionately.
Wow. I had never realised how intense his feelings about this were.
Pressing her lips together Cuiling nodded again. "Alright. You seem all to be honest. Come again in three days, and we'll see what we can do."
Zuko
I'd forgotten how much I hated the smell of smoke and coal. Oil, metal and rust.
During the days Azula and I prepared for our homecoming. She had planned a big ceremony, a gathering of people who would greet us at the port. I had asked, if Father would be there, but she had only rolled her eyes, called me hilarious.
But in the evenings, when I didn't spend time with Mai, I started to think.
What if the Avatar was still alive?
What if I didn't like it at home anymore?
What if I had forgotten how to be a prince?
What if… What if…?
That's why I had started to spend the evenings out on deck, to get some clean salty air. I had missed the smell of the ocean. Being in the Earth Kingdom for all those months, not once on a ship on the ocean, had been strange. There were things I missed about my years at sea, and some things I wished I would have never to perceive again.
Leaning against the rail I marvelled at the dark waves, the waxing moon, and tried to clear my head.
Since I'd noticed that there could be a possibility for the Avatar to have lived, I longed to be on land again. This ship in the middle of the ocean made me feel anxious. I wouldn't be able to hide anywhere, to go anywhere, if someone would find out. Not that someone really could.
I was probably the only person from the Fire Nation who knew about the waterbender having this special water.
I sighed for the umpteenth time this evening, letting my breath fly out on the ocean.
A few days ago the tailor had finished with my royal robes, and these were the only ones I was allowed to wear now. Some part of me had been excited, putting on something which was worthy of my status, but the moment I had put them on, they had felt strange. As if they wouldn't fit at all. It had been too much fabric, and I wasn't used to wearing this anymore.
I hadn't worn armor since February, and even my Earth Kingdom noble clothes had been more comfortable. The fabric scratched and seemed to tantalise my skin. I checked every night if I got some red patches or pustules somewhere, for my skin really seemed to hate to be covered by silk. Although the fabric seemed light, all those layers were heavy on the shoulders, especially the metal collars.
But out here I didn't feel so out of place anymore. The wind moved my robes, and worked as a protective layer between my skin and the fabric. The sound of the ocean calmed me, and I found myself wishing to bring the ocean, wind, and moon to my room, so that I could find peace, before going to bed. But since that wasn't possible, I had to spend my evenings out here, trying not to perceive the looks of the workers and guards.
Until now no one had called me out on the strange behaviour of standing here and sighing at the ocean. I really hoped it would stay like this.
Maybe this was also a goodbye. When I would live in the capital again I wouldn't be able to see the ocean this close. At the top of the caldera one had a marvellous view at the sea, but it still took over an hour to actually reach the beach. Besides, I doubt I would be allowed to go down there.
Perhaps we could go to Ember Island, though. If Father would allow it, of course. Somehow I doubted that Father would care about spending some private time with Azula and me at our old summer house.
When I had been thirteen, I had been sent out on the ocean, which had carried me to all my destinations. It had provided, it had raged, almost killed some of my men. It had let me live those three weeks at sea after the Siege of the North. And now it took me home again.
I had the impression that I wasn't feeling very well. Somehow nothing gave me a good feeling. Whatever I did there was something to me which felt off. And what's more, there was this constant nagging in my ear taunting me with the survival of the Avatar.
Clenching my jaw I tried to blind it out, but it got too much. When it got too much I usually visited the training room, melting one of the dummies.
Right now I wished I could get my hands on the Avatar and melt him, so that I'd know for sure that he was gone.
So, those were quite exciting things happening to Kira and Co. right? I really hope I can keep it this way, and make the processs of planning the rebellion interesting, since I really have no idea how to do that. I'm just listening to my common sense and logic...
Please review, if you liked this!
Answers to reviews:
To uchihaNaruto247: That's exactly what I wanted to show with this! I really think that Azula cares, but doesn't know how to show it. And it's so awful to write this from Zuko's point of view, since he's dense. He doesn't notice that Azula cares. And I don't want him to be dense. But Zuko is not a good big brother, which is also one of the reasons why Azula feels alone, like a monster, or why she teased him so much in their childhood. Zuko wasn't shown as a very emphatic brother, so that's what I'm trying to do, too, although I don't like it! I really wanted him to say thank you, but that would have been unlike how he is to Azula, so, no. Sigh.
To Sam. HoranTurtleDuck: First, to answer your review for chapter sixteen: Well, Mai is a complicated topic to me. There are things I like about her, and I do think that her personality would fit good with Zuko's in some ways, because they are like opposites. She would calm him, and he would make her feel other things than boredom. I actually liked her, when I was little (only because Zuko smiled at her in the last episode, I didn't care about her personality back then), then I started not liking her, because I was a Zutara shipper, but then I started to like her again, valuing her personality like I mentioned above. But then I read the comics, and that's when I totally loathed her. I don't know if you read the comics, so I'm not going to say exactly what happened, but it didn't seem to me, as if Mai would have real feelings for Zuko. She said and did some things, which are simply not said and done about or to a person you love. In general, I also think that Zuko and Mai would have a hard time being a couple for their whole life, but if both would be willing to work on themselves and their relationship, then it could actually work. But both would have to change and make compromises. Ah, Mai really is important to Zuko, I just thought it would be unrealistic having him falling for Mai and completely forgetting his feeelings about Kira. But with some time, his feelings for Mai will just get stronger.
And on to chapter seventeen: We aren't yet in book three territory, but only a few days away. Actually, between this chapter (eighteen) and the next one, book three will begin! There is a waxing moon on the ship, because, when Zuko and Mai talk out on deck in the first episode of book three, there is actually a full moon. So what you just read happens just two or three days before. And chapter nineteen will definitely be book three. After what you wrote, I really thought about a name for this team, but I'm just not gifted like Sokka. "Terrifying Threesome" would kind of be plagiarising, wouldn't it? But I thought of "Teenage Bender Student Rebels", because it sounds a bit like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is, in my opinion, one of the coolest team name ever. The problem is only that it's such a long name. And Denzai is no bender, as Nanuk is no student, that's why I chose both of them, but somehow nothing else comes into my mind, which they have in common. But only "Teenage Rebels" would be a bit too short, and too broad, wouldn't it? What about "Teenage Rebelling Threesome / Trio"? Is that even gramatically correct? And I'm really trying to move this rebellion along quickly, without skipping too many scenes, but I think the beginning is really important. I really just want to move on with the story, until Zuko and Kilara meet again, but there's so much in between, which I just can't summarise, because that would be bad writing. So I've got to wait as much as you do...