BOOK 2: EARTH
CHAPTER 15: THE TALES OF BA SING SE
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There are 8 billion stories in naked city called Ba Sing Se. This is a few of them . . .
THE TALE OF TOPH AND KATARA
It was a brand new day at the Team Avatar house hold. After they washed up they stood in front of the big wide mirror in the bathroom. Aang, whose head is covered with shaving cream, shaves his head with his shaving tool. Sokka cuts off the little facial hair with the end of his machete before clicks his tongue at the handsome devil that he is. Dante was cutting his mane done to his ideal Mohawk that he had most of his days. V combed his hair after putting a conditioner through it. And finally Katara fixes together her hair loopies in the mirror. Once they are placed, she smiles.
Everyone seems ready to start the day. However there was one person abcent from the morning grooming. In a dark room, Toph lies naked on her bed, her blanket sloppily lying over her and her hair in a mess. Light cuts through the darkness as the door opens, and Katara enters the room and gasps at the sight.
"Toph! Aren't you gonna get ready for the day?" Katara asked.
Toph gets up, causing her messy hair fly around like a heavy winter coat. She spits on a nearby vessel which spins upon impact. The then precedes to rub the lips of her genitals with one hand and scratching her armpit with the other. Toph then unleashed a loud long fart while she gets to her feet and brushes a large amount of dust off her skin that shocks Katara quite a bit. This Earthbending teen seems to be another version of Dante.
"I'm ready." Toph says.
"You're not gonna wash up? You've got a little dirt on your ... everywhere, actually." Katara awkwardly pointed out.
"You call it dirt, I call it a healthy coating of earth!" Toph corrected Katara.
Katara then got an idea from what Toph just said. "Hmm ... You know what we need? A girl's day out! "
"Do I have to?!" Toph whined.
"It'll be fun!" Katara urged.
Toph decided to give in and go along with it. she had to otherwise Katara would bother her about all morning.
The two stood near the entrance a large building where two women in fancy robes walk out and smile at each other.
"The Fancy Lady Day Spa? Sounds like my kinda place." Toph said sarcastically.
"Are you ready for some serious pampering?" Katara asked readily.
Toph rolled her eyes. "Sure, Katara, whatever you say. As long you don't bitch about it anymore and they don't touch my feet." Toph says. Katara accepted her terms and the two entered inside the building.
The first set of pampering was to get rid of the traveler's feet. Katara sits smiling, having her feet scrubbed. Toph's face grimaced in rage as the attendant tries to scrape the massive amounts of dirt off her dirt-filled feet. Toph earth bent the crap out of the attendant. She really meant when she said nobody touches her feet.
The second set of pampering is to help give the skin a radiant completion. Toph and Katara now are taking mud baths. An attendant with arms full of fresh towels walks over to Toph. She then gets an idea and inhales air, and exhales, earthbending the mud on her face, creating a scary appearance with buggy eyes, which scares the attendant, who runs away. Katara and Toph laugh, as the mud around Toph's mouth forms a large smile.
The fourth set of pampering is designed to rid the body of impurities thru the act of sweating. In a sauna which Toph and Katara are occupying Toph kicks the ground, bending another rock from another pile, making it fly onto the pile of hot rocks. Katara, using waterbending, splashes the hot rocks with some water creating steam. They both sigh in relief the sweat leaked from their screaming pours.
With their trip to the spa coming to and satisfying end Toph and Katara leave into the morning sun lot of make-up on her face as they walk through the streets of Ba Sing Se.
"Well, that wasn't so bad. I'm not usually into that stuff but I actually feel ... girly." Toph admitted truthfully. She hated feeling girly but she will let it slide, this time.
"I'm glad. It's about time we did something fun together." Katara said happily.
As they do, they pass three pretty girls going the other direction stop and looked upon the two, particularly the shorter one, Toph.
"Wow, great make-up." the girl with the umbrella complimented.
"Thanks." Toph replied.
"For a clown!" the girl with the umbrella dropped.
The three pretty girls laugh, Toph's smile is replaced by a frown as she and Katara stop walking. The pretty girls were just that, pretty on the outside. But on the inside they were mean on the inside. The Earthbender, tough as the earth she was seem to still be affected by the words that poke fun at a person for enjoying themselves.
Katara figured that maybe they over did it on the make up a little bit. Regardless, Katara puts her arm over Toph's shoulder, attempting to console her. "Don't listen to them, let's just keep walking."
"With hat make up she would standout … at night with the other whores." Said the third mean girl
"I think she looks cute. Like that time we put a sweater on your pet poodle monkey." commented the second girl.
"Good one, Star." the third girl agreed.
Seeing Toph with that make up must have offended them in a hilarious way they had to stop what they doing and put Toph down.
"Let's go, Toph." Katara said angrily.
Toph then gets an idea and turns around with a mischievous smile and laughs sarcastically. "No, no, that was a good one. Like your poodle monkey. You know what else a good one?" Toph asked before earthbends the bridge, removing a circular part above which the three girls are standing, causing the girls to fall into the creek below. Katara stood over on the hole with a smirk. "Now that was funny." Katara comments before she waterbended a wave that sweeps the girls away as they screamed. Those learned an important lesson that day – delivered by both an Earthbender and a Waterbender.
Toph walking away from the bridge as Katara jogs to catch up. "Those girls don't know what they're talking about."
"It's okay. One of the good things about being blind, is I don't have to waste my time worrying about appearance. I don't care what I look like. I'm not looking for anyone's approval. I know who I am."
Toph stops walking, and she cries a bit. "That's what I really admire about you, Toph. You're so strong, and confident, and self-assured. And I know it doesn't matter, but ...You're really pretty." Katara gave her praise to help lift her friend's spirit.
Toph turned to Katara, smiling. "I am?" she asked.
"Yeah, you are." Katara said honestly.
Toph knew Katara was a country idiot but she was an honest one, for now. "I'd return the compliment, but I've no idea how you look like." Toph comments causing Katara to laugh, in response Toph punches Katara's shoulder, her way of showing affection.
It has been declared time after time again that it's not what's on the outside that matters, it what on the inside. Makeup can make a woman beautiful, but that's that only goes so far. The woman's their personality, their true self, is what can carry them the rest of the way. Not a façade that attracts the most attention. If a woman has confidence, inner strength and self-assurance then they will shine brighter than all the stars in the night sky. And the more she realizes that the less make she will need. The woman can walk out and greet the new day with a smile on her face, even if it rains on her head. That is a virtue to strive for.
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THE TALE OF IROH
Today was a special day for the Dragon of the West. He knew this day came only once in a good while and he would always have his day out on it. In the street of the middle ring Iroh goes toward a shop to buy a basket. He examines each and every basket kept until he fines the one he wants.
"If this is for a romantic picnic, may I suggest this lavender one?" The Shop Owners asks curiously and points to lavender basket.
Iroh smiles and hands a coin to the owner, and takes the basket. "No, it's not a romantic picnic, but it is a special occasion." He says and leaves. As he goes, he sees a vase that contains a moon flower. He slides the vase into the shade, which causes the flowers to bloom instantly. "The moon flower likes partial shade." He reminds the shop owner He bows to the shop owner and walks away.
Next, Iroh examines another shop which sells musical instruments. He figured in taking up the string instrument again like he did in the past. Suddenly the sound of a crying child catches Iroh's attention and he turns around to see a boy sobbing the middle of the street and his mother trying to console him.
"Shhh. It's okay. Shhh." The boy's mother says trying to console him, to no avail.
Iroh gets an idea and takes down the stringed instrument and starts singing, walking toward the boy. Iroh gets down on one knee near the boy as he begins to sing a lullaby.
Leaves from the vine, falling so slow.
Like fragile, tiny shells, drifting in the foam.
Little soldier boy, come marching home.
Brave soldier boy, comes marching home.
The boy's frown instantly turns upside-down as he reaches up and pulls Iroh's long beard, causing Iroh to groan while the boy laughs. Iroh smiles and pats his beard. The boy's mother takes her son by the hand and leads him away as Iroh stands and looks at them with a smiling look on his face.
Iroh then enters a courtyard upon seeing an interesting sight. Four boys are in the courtyard, playing Earth Football. One of the boys hits the ground with his foot and the ball shoots up and comes back down. He kicks it and follows up with some earthbending. A patch of earth rises to create a path for the ball as it rolls along. Another player earthbends to stop the ball before it reaches the goal. This causes the ball to launch up and into the direction Iroh is standing. He dodges the ball just in time, but the ball breaks through the window directly behind where he was. A crash and a loud voice can be heard from inside.
"Hey!"
The boys hide behind Iroh who smiles at them. "It is usually best to admit mistakes when they occur, and seek to restore honor." He explains.
Then loud noises are heard and all five of them look up startled as a very large body and head are visible through the hole in the window. "When I'm through with you kids, THE WINDOW WON'T BE THE ONLY THING THAT'S BROKEN."
Iroh stares wide-eyed at what monster of a man could by on the other side of that window. ". . . But not this time. RUN!"
Iroh and the kids run away in all directions. Iroh runs down the marketplace street quickly. He hides in an alley, places the basket down and looks around the corner to see if he is being chased. He is then surprised to hear someone talking to him. Behind Iroh is a man holding a knife who is trying to mug him.
"You, give me all your money!" The mugger demands. Iroh spots the mugger's poor stance.
"What are you doing?" Iroh asked confused, wondering if the guy was trying to mug him or is trying to holding it until he reaches a restroom.
"I'm mugging you!" The mugger replied.
"With that stance?" Did you get kicked there? Iroh asked.
The mugger looks at his stance in confusion. "Huh? What're you talking about? Just give me your money, old man!"
There is a right way and a wrong way in everything. Iroh shakes his head. "With a poor stance, you are unbalanced, and you can be easily knocked over." Iroh quickly grabs the arm of the mugger and disarms him, while pushing his attacker and knocking him to the ground. He smiles, while twirling the dagger in his hand, and helps the mugger to his feet. "With a solid stance, you are a much more serious threat." Iroh demonstrates a proper stance, which Tycho attempts to imitate, but is still not assuming the correct form. Iroh walks over to him and holds his head still while he adjusts the man's stance with a light kick. "Much better! But to tell you the truth, you do not look like the criminal type."
"I know. I'm ... I'm just confused." The former mugger sighs.
Iroh decided that a nice cup of tea and a conversation would help things. The man, known as Tycho, holds a cup while Iroh pours some hot tea for him. "So you really think I could be a good masseur?" Tycho asked.
Iroh nodded in agreement. "Of course!"
"This is so great. No one has ever believed in me." Tycho smiled.
Iroh smiled "While it is always best to believe in oneself, a little help from others can be a great blessing." He said.
It is evening now as the sun begins to set. Leaves fall from the tree on a hill as Iroh approaches it. He places the basket he had purchased earlier down and removes his hat, taking a moment to enjoy the glorious sunset. But before he has his picnic the was something he was to do first. He rests on his knees and piles some rocks at the tree's base. He removes several things from the basket and places them at the bottom of the tree, near to the pile of stones. He pulls out a sheet of paper and looks at it for a few seconds, closing his eyes with a warm smile on his face, before placing it down as well. Finally he pulls two incense sticks, and lights them with his fingers by firebending. Iroh has finished making a small memorial for someone he was blessed to have come into his life and is still proud even though he is not with him anymore: His deceased son, Lu Ten.
"Happy birthday, my son. If only I could have helped you." Iroh said as begins to cry. He remembers the day Lu'Ten left him as he drove the Sabertooth Tiger into the city of Ba Sing Se. He and Dante waved back to Iroh. The memory caused his tears to come more freely and hot due to the intensity of his loss. Dante made a promise to watch out for Lu'Ten but he failed to bring him back to him. Iroh could never … ever blame Dante for the Lu'Ten's death. But Dante, so full of guilt, left before Iroh could tell him.
Iroh loves Lu'Ten, Zuko along with Dante are like his adopted sons. Iroh once more begins to sing, but his voice cracks due to his sorrow.
Leaves from the vine, falling so slow.
Like fragile, tiny shells, drifting in the foam.
Little soldier boy, come marching home.
Brave soldier boy, comes marching home.
Lu'Ten was indeed home with his mother, who passed away long ago.
.: IN HONOR OF MAKO :.
THE TALE OF DANTE
In the busy streets of the middle ring Dante sits onto of a build eating and apple he swiped from a stand. He looked down at the woman at a market stall who was distracted with the concerns of the day to notice a kid walking over to swipe something from their bag and walking away. The kid was a young boy dressing brown clothes with neck length wavy hair.
With nothing better to do Dante decided to follow after the boy. Moving around and under people and carts the boy enters an alley where he stopped and leaned against the wall with an exhausted sigh. He opened his hand to see the coin purse he stole from the woman's purse.
"Nice!" The kid said excitedly at the sight of a lot of money in the purse.
Little did the boy know that Dante was already waiting in the alley ready to confront him "Hey kid . . ." He said.
The boy almost jumped out of his skin upon not seeing Dante there. "Holy … Who are you?" He said a little frightened.
Dante stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself. "My name is Dante. And you are a kid who stole a money." he said.
The boy hid the purse behind his back. "Well my name is Asura and I have no idea what you are talking about."
Dante gave the boy an ironic expression. "Oh, I don't eh? So I guess me seeing you steal that money from that woman was just my imagination."
Asura shrugged. "Could be heat stroke . . ."
"Expect it not hot today, genius!" Dante stated. "I saw you steal and you are going to return that money to the nice woman you stole it from."
Asura blinked from a moment, his eyes looked left and right ". . . Or what?" he asked wondering what the next part of the threat was.
Dante crossed his arms and stared at the kid. "Then I'll make you."
The kid narrowed his eyes. "I like to see you try." Asura challenged.
Dante takes one step forward and gets blindsided by Asura's foot. His body twists around in places before stopping, he saw Asura bolting out of the alley and making a right. Dante ran after him up the street as carts and people were coming at them. The two of them evaded the oncoming traffic and pedestrians with ease. Asura looks behind him to see Dante still on his tail and closing in. Dante leaped forward and his arms outstretched to snatch the thief. Asura stopped dead in his tracks and stood aside as he watch fly past him and into a wall which he went right through.
Asura grimaced in sympathy in Dante's pain. He stepped out until he was directly aligned with the hole in the wall. Without saying anything Dante darted out and grabbed the boy by the collar and lifted him up in the air.
"Thank was funny, I'll admit, but you still have to give me the purse you snatched." Dante said as he held out his hand with the kid to hand it over.
Asura reached into his pocket and held it up. Dante held out his hand for Asura to drop it in. Asura released it and Dante released him.
"Hold it. Where is the money?" Dante asked suspiciously.
Asura rolled his eyes and held out his hand to reveal the money he stole. Dante took it and put it in the coin purse. "I guess you're going to turn me in to the cops." Asura guessed.
"No." Dante said simply.
"No?" Asura asked confused.
Dante shrugged, "Well, judging by the money you stole you was going to use it to buy food because … you are a stray, am I right?"
Asura was surprised, "How did you know?"
"Well you for starters, you stink. Second, you are where cloths in a mismatched fashion. And third the way you ran from me I guess you had to learn how to that early on." Dante explained his deduction.
"Yeah, so, what of it?" Asura sound a bit offended.
"I make a deal with you. If you return the money to the lady without her knowing then you and I will get you a hot food in your belly and a warm bed tonight."
"You're on." Asura said in accepting the challenge.
They retraced their steps and found the woman observing good in a different stall. Asura stealthy walked through the crowd to the bag the lady was holding. He reached and place the purse back inside walked away. Asura walked back to Dante who was waiting around the corner. "You said there would be food?" Asura asked.
Dante took Asura to a restaurant in the Middle Ring where he ordered a lot of food for the two of them. Asura ate like crazy as he goggled up the delicious food, one after another. People were giving them questioning looks but all Dante could do shrug at them.
Asura shrugged, "How are you going pay for all this food?"
"Simple … excuse me waiter me and my friend almost down here so could make the bill out to the Dai Li, please."
Suddenly everyone in the restaurant became silent when Dante mentioned the Dai Li. Dante then noticed that there were two Dai Li agents having dinner at a table in a corner of the dining area. They turned and looked at Dante. "The Dai Li, sir?" the waiter asked nervously. Asura had a vegetable stalk sticking out of his mouth as he waited to see what was going to happen.
"Yes, the Dai Li. They are the watchful protectors of our fair city. They should be able to pick up the tab for everyone in the eating here." Dante said it loud enough for everyone to hear him.
Soon everyone in the dining area called to the waiter and wanting to pass their tabs on to the Dai Li. The three agents stared at Dante who waved goodbye to them as he left with Asura. "And that's how you eat out without paying for a single thing." Dante stated as he and Asura walked down the street at night.
"That was totally awesome." Asura exclaimed.
Dante sighed. "Yeah, too bad you can only pull something like that off once in a while."
"I'm lucky to have a dinner with good food. Speaking of which stuffed and I need to hit the hay. Where is this warm bed you spoke of?" Asura asked while scratching behind his head.
"Up in the Upper Ring." Dante said.
"Whoa, really? You're rich?" Asura asked.
Dante rolled his eyes. "No. I just live with the Avatar."
"The Avatar? No way!" Asura said finding it high doubtful.
"Well if you don't believe me I guess you'll be sleeping in a cold bed tonight." Dante walked on leaving Asura alone on the street. Dante made it back to the Upper ring and back to the house when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see it was Asura.
"It looks small." Asura commented.
"Just wait till you get inside." Dante suggested.
"I will, but I wanted to ask you something … Why are you helping me?" Asura asked the most important question he asked this day.
"Oh, I dunno. Maybe it's because I too was an orphan once. I had to fend for myself for a long while. I guess if I can help it I would help anyone who's in need of, even though very few came to my aid. I stole a purse once and an old man in the ghetto told me to return it in exchange for some food. Plus you got a fire in you that show you will keep on fighting even when the tough times roll in. I respect that." Dante explained.
Asura smiled upon here Dante's answer. "Thanks."
"This big city, it's always good to have someone watch your back." Dante concluded as he and Asura went inside.
IN MEMORY OF KOBE: A GREAT ALTHETE AND A TRUE HERO
THE TALE OF AANG
Aang flies on his glider, searching for Appa once again. He sees a street below and lands on it, twirling his glider back into a staff. Aang walking down the street, which is lined on both sides with various cages and pens built into the rock. Aang passes each pen and looks in to see different creatures looking sad and depressed, his expression matching theirs. He stops for a few seconds and looks up into a cage with a group of dragon flies. He looks down into another pen which is a pit to see an elephant mandrill lying on the ground, very bored. An armadillo lion gnaws at the bars that keep him in. It looks up as Aang approaches. Kneeling on one knee and holding his hand out. "Hey there, fellow, you look hungry." The armadillo lion roars, causing Aang to jump back in surprise. The creature curls up into a ball and rolls in its pen as the zookeeper, a man named Kenji, walks behind Aang, sweeping.
"They are hungry. The Dai Li won't give me any money because the kids stopped coming. And the kids won't come because my zoo's nasty and broke." Kenji said.
Aang looks at a cage with an animal he never seen before. "What kinda animal is that?"
"Oh, that's a Rabaroo. I wish I could get her a big open prairie like she likes. I'd let her hop away to happiness." Kenji said.
Aang then smiled as he got an idea. "Let's do it!"
"Say again?" Kenji asked in surprise.
"There's a big open space right outside the walls of the city." Aang explained.
"But how're you gonna transport all these wild critters?" asked Kenji.
"Don't worry, I'm great with animals." Aang reassured him.
Just as they were released from their cages, chaos happens. A vessel became broken with a loud crash by some hog monkeys, who are wreaking havoc in one of the shops in the city, throwing pottery and breaking things. The owner comes in swinging a broom in an attempt to save his shop and manages to send one of them flying. The creatures fleeing the shop and into the street just as an elephant mandrill comes stampeding down it while people run for their lives. Another group of people come running out of an alley covering their heads to escape the dragon flies that fly over them. A platypus bear enters the street and stands on its hind legs, swinging and growling as more people scream and run away. It pursues a group down an alley, as an armadillo lion comes rolling in and runs off in another direction.
The Rabaroo devours cabbages from a pile. The creature is eating from the cabbage merchant's cart who is desperately trying to save his cabbages. "My cabba-" He is interrupted by a Rabaroo looking at him with a cabbage in her mouth. She chews it, and returns to the cart to eat more. The merchant throws down the cabbages he holds in his hand, and goes back. "Oh, forget it."
As some dragonflies harassing people on a street, Aang runs from the rooftops of the houses, descends onto the street, and helps the people using airbending. He scratches his head "This was so much easier in my head."
Aang suddenly gets an idea, and snaps his fingers, as he pulls out the bison whistle from his shirt. He throws the whistle into the air, and using airbending, inhales a great amount of air. He catches the whistle, and blows it. A soundwave emitted from where Aang is and throughout Ba Sing Se as the whistles sound spreads. All of the zoo animals heard the sound and followed Aang as he rode his air scooter down a street blowing the bison whistle to keep them on his tail.
Kenji talking with two guards at the wall trying to convince them to open the gate, "But you have to open this gate." He said.
"Or what?" asked the guard.
He points to a large stampede of creatures following Aang. "Or that!"
The guards see a stamped of animal coming toward them fast. "OPEN THE GATE!" one of them yelled at the top of his lungs.
Both the guards run in opposite directions, as the gate is opened. Aang flies down with the animals, stops blowing the whistle, jumps off his air scooter, on onto his glider, as the animals go out through the gate. The creatures go through the opening as he soars up and over the wall. On the other side, the creatures are shown coming out of the opening and starting to spread out in all directions as they run.
Aang soared down behind the running animals and hopping onto his air scooter again. As he rides, he punches the ground causing a large wall of earth to rise as he rides in a large circle creating a pen to block the running animals. Once he finishes, he jumps off his scooter and lands in the center of the pen he made. He earthbends again, causing a square portion of the ground to descend and creates a small pit. He turns around and brings his arms up high to cause some large pillars of earth to rise, making plateaus, turns, and punches outward which makes more walls to separate the animals.
The guards and Kenji going out amazed. A group of kids, laughing and smiling, push past them and run toward the zoo. The new zoo as people move around the newly formed pens and look the animals. The rabaroo drinking from a pond before looking up at one of the guests as three young rabaroos poke up from its pouch. Aang speaking with the zookeeper beside one of the pens.
"Well, Mr. Zookeeper, how do you like your new facilities?" Aang asked.
"Excellent job, Avatar. You should think about working with animals for a living." Asked Kenji.
Aang looks behind him as a guest's voice catches his attention. "Mommy, Miss Snowflake got out of the house again." a child pointing into one of the pens with a hissing cat in one of the pens.
"Fluffykins? What are you doing down there?"Asked the child's mother.
Fluffykins hissed more at the elephant mandrill it is sharing the pen with. "On second thought, you should probably stick to saving people."
Aang laughs at Kenji's statement before awkwardly looking away.
Some people have a knack for animals than they do people. Aang certainly is one of them.
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THE TALE OF SOKKA AND V
Sokka and V, or Valen as his original name, walked down a candle-lit street at night. "You see Sokka; these humble nights can give rise to a smattering of cultural, if you look for it." V said.
Bored, he pulls his boomerang from its sheath, throws it into the sky, and catches it as it comes back. They past a building and into the alley beside it, the two passes through some men struggling with their ostrich horses, and by the windows of the building, as he hears voices from inside. Intrigued, They turns and sticks his head inside the window.
"What's this?" Sokka asked.
It is the famous Five-Seven-Five Society's classroom. A lady is on the stage reciting her haiku to the rest of the ladies.
"Through all the long night, winter moon glows with bright love, sleet her silver tears." Lady on stage recited.
"Ahh, poetry." Sokka said looking pleased.
"Indeed." Valen said.
The ostrich horse, who is still struggling with his handler, kicks backward and hits Sokka and V in their back, sending them through the window, and inside the room. The ladies look at them and shriek, startled.
Collecting themselves Sokka removed the window frame while V brushed himself off. "I am so sorry. Something struck me in the rear. I just ... wound up ... here." Sokka said.
The ladies laugh, and clap at Sokka's unintended haiku. Sokka first looks surprised, but grins widely. Their teacher, a lady named Macmu-Ling, gets up.
"Five, seven, then five, syllables mark a haiku. Remarkable oaf." She said bowing her head.
"Choose your words well, for this match is hard skill, but I have some faith." V encouraged Sokka with a haiku of his own as he sat on the floor cross legged. Macmu-Ling nods to V's haiku.
Sokka's thinking for a moment before answering. "They call me Sokka, that is in the Water Tribe. I am not an oaf." He introduced himself with counting fingers as he did the ladies laugh at his haiku.
Macmu-Ling narrows her eyes. "Tittering monkey, in the spring he climbs treetops, and thinks himself tall."
"Oooooh!" the ladies reacted.
"You think you're so smart, with your fancy little words, this is not so hard." Sokka replied.
"Oooooh!" the ladies reacted again.
Macmu-Ling walks up to the stage. "Whole seasons are spent, mastering the form, the style, none calls it easy." she states.
"Oooooh!" the ladies reacted at the truth.
"I calls it easy. Like I paddle my canoe, I'll paddle yours too!" Sokka turns around and paddles his behind, as the ladies laugh.
"There's nuts and there's fruits." Macmu-Ling takes a plum from her sleeve, drops it to the ground, and squashes it. "In fall the clinging plum drops, always to be squashed."
"Squish, squash, sling that slang. I'm always right back at ya, like my ... BOOMERANG!" Sokka makes a save. V and the class laughs.
Annoyed, Macmu-Ling walks off the stage and back to her seat as Sokka turns to the class again and raises his arms up to silence the laughter, as he unsheathes his boomerang as his pride drives him forward. "That's right, I'm Sokka, it's pronounced with an "okka", young ladies, I rocked ya!"
This time, however, his "haiku" is not cheered at, instead being met with silence. Sokka stares at the class, as the annoyed and angry class does the vice versa. He looks at V who put his hand over his eyes and clenched his teeth at Sokka's horrible mistake.
Sokka he counts the number of syllables in his "haiku", and realizes that his last line contained six syllables instead of five by counting on his fingers. A large security guard approaches and catches him by the collar bringing Sokka to his face. "Uh, that's one too many syllables there, bub." Picking up Sokka completely, he throws him head first across the room and out the door.
Valen stands up and bows himself before the ladies and their teacher. "He am sorry for, he is still new to this art, but he'll learn this." Valen concluded with one last haiku before leaving.
Outside, Sokka hits the ground with a thud and sits up holding his head. "Poetry ..."
The lesson here is if a boy wishes to seek a girl with the boundaries of a society. He would have to be true to himself and at least do his homework on a subject before charging in to impress.
THE TALE OF ZUKO AND INDRA
Early every morning Indra would take Zuko to a location to train in the arts of gaining new powers for his journey back to the Fire Nation. When the first light of the morning shines over the mountains in the distance they end and Zuko returns to bed to start the new day at the boring tea house. On this day however it was going to be a little different. At the Pao Family Tea House
Inside where Zuko walks down the shop with a tray of cups and looks behind at a girl with twin braids. He walks up behind his uncle who is on a ladder, stacking things on a shelf behind the counter.
"Uncle, we have a problem. One of the customers is on to us. Don't look now but there is a girl over there at the corner table. She knows we're Fire Nation." Zuko gave the heads up. Iroh looks at the girl, but is quickly pulled back by Zuko. "Didn't I say don't look?!"
Since the whole ordeal with Jet Iroh assumed Zuko would be on edged about their identity getting out. "You're right, Zuko. I've seen that girl in here quite a lot. Seems to me she has quite a little crush on you."
"What?" Zuko said in bewilderment.
Suddenly the girl appears at the counter to hand Zuko some coins, which he puts on a table. "Thank you for the tea. What's your name?" the girl asked. Iroh slightly smiles at the question, for it starts with a question.
"My name's Lee. My uncle and I just moved here." Zuko said.
"Hi Lee, my name's Jin. Thank you and ... well, I was wondering if you would like to go out sometime." Jin asked.
Zuko is stunned. But before the stunned Zuko can respond Iroh jumps in to seal the deal. "He'd love to!"
"Great. I'll meet you in front of the shop at sundown." Jin walks away, as Iroh throws his arms on a bewildered Zuko's shoulders, with a large smile as he glares at him. Iroh would do anything to get him out of the shop to meet new people.
It is now evening; Zuko comes out with his hair neatly combed. He walks out into the middle of the street and looks around as Jin emerges from an alley beside the shop and walks up to him.
"Hey. Well, look at you." Jin appears and ruffles his hair. "You look so cute."
Zuko stops Jin from ruffling his hair. "It took my uncle ten minutes to do my hair."
Jin didn't care and grabs Zuko by the arm and drags him as he glances once back at the teashop. Town square where several people stand around doing various activities. Zuko and Jin decided to eat at a restaurant, Jin sipping tea while Zuko pokes at his last meatball with his chop sticks, not looking at Jin.
"So, how do you like the city so far?" Jin asked to begin making conversation.
"It's okay." Zuko said.
Jin sips tea; intrigued. "What do you like to do for fun?"
"Nothing." He said again, even though nothing is still something.
A waiter came to the table to offer a dish to them. "Excuse me, sir. Would you and your girlfriend care for dessert ?"
"She is not my girlfriend!" Zuko yells in an assertive tone, pounding the table.
The restaurant becomes silent as everyone's attention focuses on Zuko. The waiter walks away. Suddenly Indra walks by eating a pastry. "Don't worry I believe you." he said before walking on.
Zuko laces his fingers and looks at Jin, who is slurping down a large bite of noodles from a bowl. Zuko stares at the sight in surprise for a moment. "You have ... quite an appetite for a girl." he said awkwardly as he fiddles his thumbs.
"Umm ... thanks?" Jin felt uncomfortable due to how uncomfortable Zuko is. "So, Lee, where were you and your uncle living before you came here?"
"Umm ... well, we've been traveling around for a long time." Zuko said.
"Oh. Why were you traveling so much?" she with more intrigue.
Indra sat down at a table behind her wishing to see how this would play out.
"We were ... uh, part of this traveling circus." Zuko lied.
"Really? What did you do? Wait, lemme guess." She thinks for a moment and quickly points at him. "You juggled!"
Indra shook his head. Zuko folds his arms and looked annoyed at Jin and Indra. "Yes, I juggled." Zuko said, knowing he walked right into that one.
"I've always wanted to learn how to juggle. Can you show me something?" Jin holds out some objects.
Zuko looks awkward and worried, but he takes the objects in his hand, and throws them one by one in the air. He is unable to catch them, and one of the objects falls on his head, breaking into many pieces.
"I haven't practiced for a while." He says wiping the pieces of the objects from his hair.
It's all right. Hey, I want to show you one of my favorite places in the city.
In a moonlit street in the city with Jin leading Zuko in a rush. "I'm so excited for you to see the Firelight Fountain. The lamps make the water sparkle and reflect in the pool in the most beautiful way." She leads Zuko into an open area with a large fountain and several posts with candles on top surrounding it in a circle. However, the candles are not lit. "I can't believe it! They aren't lit."
He looks at her before looking at the fountain. Jin had been coming to the tea house and watched him for a while. She thought he was cute but she knew he was a shut it. she wanted to give him a night for him to enjoy.
Zuko then gets an idea. "Close your eyes, and don't peek."
Jin closes and covers her eyes as Zuko walks out, holds his hands together, and closes his eyes as he prepares. Zuko's face shows his eyes opening, as he begins firebending. Using his pointer and middle fingers on each hand, he shoots small muted bursts of flame in all directions at the candles to light them. Once finished, he stands straight and looks at Jin, still with her palms covering her eyes.
"Okay, now you can look." He says.
Jin removes her palms from her eyes and is in awe at the sight she wanted him to see. She walks up to him, looking at the candles. "Oh, wow, what happened? How did they light? What did you?"
Jin looks at Zuko to see him smiling. Suddenly Zuko noticed she is wearing a interesting necklace. The necklace has flat slender ruby. The thing about is that he may have seen it before.
"That's a very pretty ruby you're wearing." Zuko said, finally manage to give Jin a compliment that wasn't awkward.
"Really, do you like it? It was a gift from my Dad who came home after the Siege long ago." Jin said touching the ruby. It suddenly glowed crimson surprising Zuko more.
"Amazing." He said.
"It does that whenever I'm . . . happy." She said with a warm smile.
They both sat down to look at the fountain. As Zuko looks at them, Jin brushes her hand through her hair, smiles at him, and holds his hand. Zuko turns to look at the girl smiling at him. They both turn to be face to face and as Jin begins to lean in for a kiss, Zuko quickly draws a piece of paper which he holds between their lips.
"Before I forget I've brought you something. "Zuko says. Jin becomes surprised. "It's a coupon for a free cup of tea."
"Lee, this is so sweet." He smiled at him.
Zuko takes a few steps back. "Don't thank me – it was my uncle's idea. He thinks you're our most valuable customer."
"Your uncle is a good teacher." She walks close to him and turns his head toward her. "I have something for you too. Now it's your turn to close your eyes."
As Zuko closes his eyes, Jin goes closer to him and kisses him before pulling back slightly. Zuko returns the kiss, but immediately jumps back away from her. He stands for a second, looking at her before turning his back and beginning to walk away.
"What's wrong?" Jin asked.
Zuko stopped for a moment. "It's complicated. I have to go." He walks off, leaving Jin alone and disappointed. She touched the ruby necklace around her neck which glowed in response to her feelings.
Back at the tea house Iroh is looking out from the windows at the street, waiting for Zuko. The door opens, as Zuko walks inside, being silent. "How was your night, Prince Zuko?"
Zuko walks into a room and slams the doors shut behind him without replying to Iroh. Iroh looks after him for a second with a confused look before turning back to the window to continue his work. He turns back when he hears Zuko opening the doors. In the crack between the two doors Zuko looks at his uncle. "It was nice." He replied and closed the doors again. Iroh smiles and resumes his work.
Only Zuko could say why he left Jin so abruptly. One reason could be that he has a flame in his heart. But he will always remember the evening with a girl name Jin.
THE TALE OF MOMO, SHADOW AND GRIFFON
In a very tall tree, so tall that it towers above the clouds Appa flies up through the clouds and over to the tree with many fruits hanging from vines on the tree. Appa hovers underneath these and Momo, who was sitting on the sky bison's head, flies up and begins eating some fruit and tosses some down to Appa who eats them. As Momo continues to chew on one of the fruits, Appa suddenly roars very loudly.
Startled by the thunder that woke him from his dream, Momo leaps up into Sokka's Earth Kingdom bag that is hanging nearby. After some seconds, he pokes his head up and realizes he has some white fur lying on his head. Momo sniffs the fur, and shot cuts to a shot of Appa and Momo flying to indicate this is what Momo is thinking of. Appa roars again, and shot cuts back to Momo, as he chatters and realizes to whom the fur belongs.
Momo hoped over where Griffon and Shadow were sleeping. The two demon awoke when they heard the sound of Momo chattering loudly. Griffon groaned as he lifted his head up and shook his head. The thing about being the only creature in the group that speak is that Griffon can understand the other two, though at times he wished didn't.
"Griffon, Shadow get up I Appa's here!" Momo chattered.
Griffon yawned. "Uh . . . What?"
"Appa's here. His fur fell on my head. See?" Momo showed them the fur.
Shadow and Griffon took a whiff. "Well I'll be." Griffon said in amazement.
Momo Shadow and Griffon look through the window. A shadow that is very similar to Appa's crosses the ground. Momo as he wraps the bunch of fur around one of his front legs, and soars out the window of the house and into the yard to investigate if this shadow belongs to the sky bison. As he emerges from a tree he flew up into, he realizes that the shadow is a cloud's.
"I just a cloud." Griffon said.
Disappointed, he holds his arm up and looks at the fur tied to it, but chatters a bit as he notices something. On the other side of a house's roof, is what appears to be the head and horns of Appa. When Momo flies closer, however, he finds out it was only a tree with white leaves and branches sticking out in a way similar to Appa's horns. Momo lands on one of these branches and his ears drop in disappointment.
Griffon and Shadow appear at the base of the tree. Momo flew down to the ground to meet them. "I'm sorry guys, I just got carried away. But I know Appa is here."
Griffon sighed in exhaustion and landed on the ground. "Okay . . . I see where this is going. Since you are woke me from my beauty nap with an actual real clue to Appa's whereabouts since we been here, I'll help ya'. Because if it isn't I'm to toss you lemur ass into pool of water and shock you till you yelp like a puppy! Do I make myself clear?" Griffon stated looking Momo straight in the eye. Momo nodded nervously. The three decided to split up and search for Appa to cover more ground.
Momo soars above the streets and lands on a water barrel, and begins to drink from it. As he does, his wagging tail accidentally knocks over a stick sitting nearby. It falls to the ground with a noise that alerts three pygmy pumas who were rummaging in the garbage nearby. The pygmy pumas growl at Momo and suddenly pounce on him. Momo manages to dodge and runs into a box with an opening big enough for him but not enough for the panthers. The three pumas surround the box and growl, with two of them trying and catch the lemur through the openings. Momo manages to escape from an opening in the back of the box and flies away. The pygmy pumas chase him by running on rooftops, as one of them manages to push him to the ground. After hitting the ground, Momo gets to his feet and runs on foot into a group of people, and the pumas do not follow their prey into the crowd.
Momo is picked up by a man in the crowd and has a green little hat stringed to his head. He is tossed inside the circle of the people where two monkeys are already dancing to the beat of an organ grinder. After standing for a moment, Momo dances along. The crowd all cheer and clap for the dance, and the pumas stalk the lemur outside the circle of people, looking in between the legs at their prey. One of the monkeys jumps onto Momo's head and balances with its hand, the other doing the same on the first monkey's head, as Momo struggles to keep balance.
Just as Momo is about to lose his balance, the pumas roar and attack him. Momo flees again, but this time as he tries to fly away, one of the pumas grabs him, which slows him down. The other two panthers jump on and grab onto Momo, and all four creatures crash into the ground. When the dust clears, Momo is pinned to the ground by one of his the predators while the other two stand ready to strike their catch. However, before they can, a net flies in, captures all four of them, and drags them off. Griffon, who was scouting in the notices Momo being captured and sighs with exhaustion.
"That's just great."
::
The animal control officer who captured Momo placed him into a cage and locking it by placing a peg in to prevent the doors from opening. As the cart begins to move, Momo rubs the clump of Appa fur still tied to his arm against his face. Momo sees a butcher and animal catcher arguing. He then looks at the three pygmy pumas, who are lying in the cage next to Momo, scratching at their cage and growling. The all of a sudden they shout in alarm and as something crashes. The with a flash of electricity and a narrow spatter of blood on the wall Griffon Shadow enter inside.
"Momo? Where are you ya' rat bastard?" Griffon called out. Momo screeched and the two spirits enter in the room where he was imprisoned. "Well, look at this. We looked everywhere and he's not in the air or the ground. And could you even do us a favor and not get snatched by the cops."
"Okay." Momo nods.
Momo reaches through the bars and removes the peg that holds his cage shut. As he pushes the cage open and begins to run away, he stops and looks back. The pygmy pumas stare at him sadly from their cage. Sympathetically, Momo leaps back onto the cart and begins to remove the peg to free them. Momo , Griffon and Shadow and the panthers then make their escape on the rooftops.
Momo Griffon and Shadow and their three new friends sit and watch the clouds. One of the panthers is affectionately rubbing against Momo.
Another rubs against Shadow who returns the kind gesture. Griffon sat a bit away from them. When one of the panthers walked over to Griffon he took defensive stance with lighting crackling on his feathers.
"Don't you even think about it. I don't snuggle."
Suddenly, one of the panthers uses its mouth to remove the bunch of Appa's fur from Momo's arm. The panther with the fur runs off, with the other two pumas following, and Momo, chattering loudly, follows them as well.
"Oh great here we go again." Griffon grumped as he and Shadow followed Momo.
The panthers lead Momo through the streets of Ba Sing Se till finally one of them places the bunch of fur on a footprint shaped on the ground. Momo lands on the hole as the pumas run off. the other two caught up and saw the hole in disbelief. Momo looks at this strange hole and realizes that it is actually a footprint made by Appa.
"Appa's here." Shadow said in a hushed tone
"I knew he was." Momo chattered as he lies down on the ground holding the bunch of fur. The panthers and the spirits sitting nearby, as the rain begin to fall on Momo, lying on the large footprint.
"So question is . . . where is he?" Griffon thought to himself.
This was a big breakthrough in Team Avatar's search for Appa. It was made by the furriest members of the group.
This whole day was adventure everyone but even when they sit down to eat dinner, and are asked how their day, they may just give the simplest of answers such as "Fine" or "Not much". Each would have an adventure, even if they won't take about it . . .
. . . For there are 8 billion stories in naked city called Ba Sing Se. This was a few of them.