Chapter 102: All Cats are Grey at Night
Miyuki was one of a thousand names that the Spirit had borne, just as the Cat was one of a thousand forms that she had taken.
A Spirit crafted by the Great Ones to shift and change, she was as the currents of the Ocean; she moved in time, her essence was the same even as she pushed and pulled.
Shapeshifter, the humans had called her, all those millennia ago. Skin-changer.
For so long she had moved between the Poles of the Earth, and she was worshipped by the Water Tribes, North and South. They prayed to her for luck, for peace, but also for change. She'd not been a Cat then; to the Northerners, she had been a Polar Bear, great and white. A protector and a saviour, but an enemy too. She was many things. The One Who Is Many, that's what they called her.
To the people of the Southern Tribe, she was a Wolf. Again, she was Many and One. A pack, yet alone. She stalked through the night, preying on the unwary, those that dared hunt alone on the ice. She'd watch how, in times of war, the Southern Warriors would adorn themselves in her likeness. She was to be embodied, and emulated. They sought her strength and her skill in battle. She granted the strongest her favour.
That was a long time ago, though. All things change, and she knew that best of all. She'd moved both north and south, meeting in the middle, in the Earth Kingdom. Fishermen from the North had carried her there in their hearts and minds, and in the idols they'd carved in her likeness.
They'd settled in those new lands, and she'd found new forms to take. She was the Dove, the Spider, and the Hog. She was the Pygmy Puma, and that skin had felt almost right. Finally, she found it and she became the Cat.
It was twenty-eight years ago that she met and found the Herbalist; Kali had seen her, not as a feline but as herself. The first in many centuries to do so. Kali had shown sight beyond the mortal, and so Miyuki had granted the woman her favour and her company.
That was how she found herself in the Order. Through Kali. She'd known of them for years, had seen their agents in the Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, but had dismissed them. They were beneath her notice. Now, they were not.
She slunk through the shadows of the Ringed City, unseen by the minds of mortals. She pursued these Dai Li agents as if they were mice. They were, to her. Prey to be hunted.
She was a Spirit of Change, but even Change required Balance. Without it, existence would be Chaos. Darkness would fall, as it had in the Bad Times, before the Merging, before the Avatar. Miyuki remembered those days and did not care for their return.
The Dai Li would upset the Balance, as would the Fire Lord. This one, and his father, and his grandfather had wrecked the Balance of the Worlds. Sozin, she cursed his foul name. She'd tried to end his line, almost a century ago now. After the massacres, the desecration of the Air Temples. She'd travelled to the Fire Nation, into the Caldera, and she'd entered the throne room itself.
She'd been a Cat then too, larger than she was now, claws sharper. She struck out at Sozin, but he had been wily. Wily and powerful. Friendship with the Avatar, and being the enemy of him, had given the old man knowledge of the Spirits and he had the strength to strike her down and send her running. Her power was not what it was. The old ways had long been forgotten, even if Southern Warriors still bore her visage.
The Fire Nation had pursued her across the chain of islands, and even into the Earth Kingdom. Warrants still existed to this day. The Herbalist kept her eyes peeled though, always wary of hunters.
Miyuki found a pair of Dai Li agents and followed them. She followed them from the Lower Ring to out beyond the Inner Wall of the city. From there she followed them to water. She paused and watched as they raised a tunnel from beneath the lake. She watched them enter, sealing it behind themselves. She did not follow any further.
In the ancient days, she'd been of the water. Crafted from it, and welcome in it. But things changed. Now, in this form, this feline form, she was not so welcome in the water.
She returned to the city, but she did not go back to the old man's teashop in the Lower Ring. No, the Dragon had left, returning to his own abode in the Upper Ring.
She went there. The Dragon intrigued her; he always had. He carried the Spark of the Great Sun, the Blessings of the Old Masters, and the title of the Lotus Leader. He bore the blood of Sozin, but resisted its madness. He saw beyond what was physical; he saw the Spirit. None since Kali had done so, at least none that Miyuki had encountered.
The Dragon's shop was closed and locked up. His apartment window was not. She entered through it, finding the Dragon in meditation. One golden eye opened as she approached him and he smiled widely.
Iroh bowed his head. "Honoured Spirit, what news? I did not expect you so soon after our Gathering yesterday."
The Cat settled in front of him, grey-green eyes staring into gold. She said, "The Hunt went well, Dragon."
Iroh raised an eyebrow. He breathed, "You found them?"
Miyuki blinked slowly. "I believe so. They are beyond the Wall of this city. Beneath a lake, to the north."
Iroh paused, thinking. "Lake Laogai? They are beneath it?"
"The agents I tracked entered through a tunnel, one that was raised through Earthbending. I went no further than the shore, though."
Iroh nodded. He bowed his head again. "Thank you for telling me, honoured Spirit. Have you informed the others?"
The Cat's tail batted. "No, I have not. They bore me. Well, perhaps not the Nun. She could be… intriguing."
Iroh chastised her ever so slightly. "They are in the Order, just as you are."
Miyuki tilted her head to the side. "Perhaps you are right. However, I believe the fight is yours, more than theirs. Yours, and the Bison's owner."
"You would not advise the Order moving against the Dai Li?"
"I would not. We move in shadows deeper than the Dai Li. They surprised this city's Chapter, but I do not believe they know how deep our roots grow. That is to our advantage. Pass word to the Avatar and his companions. Let them strike the blow."
Iroh stroked his beard, thinking. "Perhaps you are right. The time is coming for our revelation, though."
"Soon." Miyuki agreed. "But not just yet."
Iroh nodded. "I will get word to my Nephew."
"Do so." The Cat said. "In the meantime, I am owed fried fish, Dragon."
Iroh laughed, even as he rose to his feet and headed towards the kitchen.
