*sighs wryly* Well, hello again, all you happy people. For better or worse, I simply could not resist the lure of this website and the urge to try my hand at fanfic forever, even though I'm currently halfway through writing a "real" novel for the masses at large. But just like a bear with garbage, I've come back for more!
This is a simple budding romance fic that starts around the time of Tales Of Ba Sing Se, and sees our favorite tea-loving, firebending general actively engaging in shipping perhaps the last type of patron one would expect...
Edit: Turns out, this fanfic ended up spiraling into something bigger! I even have a cool prologue and epigrams and stuff!
Avatar and its characters, as usual, belong to Bryan and Mike, not me. I'm just playing around.
Come listeners. Gather around in this courtyard.
We all know the heroic, fantastic tale of how young Avatar Aang and his equally young companions, courageous beyond their years, saved not just the Earth Kingdom, but the whole world from the menace and brutality of the Fire Nation in their struggles against its forces on the day when the comet turned the very sky blood-red.
Then too, we are well aware of, and will always be thankful to the peerless master benders of the Order of The White Lotus, which fought and defeated the occupying forces of the Fire Nation Army on our streets, and set our city free from bondage.
But there are other, smaller-scale acts of resistance from that eerie day too, performed by individuals which couldn't just helplessly stand by.
This is the story of perhaps the most impressive, the savage running battle that the earthbender Hong Yan fought against an entire squadron of Fire Nation foot soldiers, among the alleys, avenues, and town squares of Ba Sing Se.
Inconceivable, I know, even when you take into account that he was no ordinary earthbender. Indeed, his full title was Agent Hong Yan-an agent of the Dai Li.
The Dai Li! I hear you say. How could there be anything virtuous, courageous, or self-sacrificing to be found in one of the very people who conspired against our own king, who kept the knowledge of the war with the Fire Nation hidden from us, who arrested, imprisoned, brainwashed, even killed others who dared to speak of it, who tore the gap in our immense wall and handed us all to the mad Princess Azula and her people?
Ask her uncle, General Iroh, who once came to our city as an enemy, and then later as a steadfast friend. He knows better than anyone how time can change a man, even if it be in a small way.
He was there to witness-and indeed, bring about-the beginning of our story. He gave Hong some advice here and there, of course, and was even there to witness how the agent's story ended. But I can assure you that Hong Yan did most of the action.
It all began over a cup of delicious tea.
And with a magnetic moment of love.
I used to think that I was made out of stone/
I used to spend so many nights on my own/
I never knew I had it in me to dance anymore/
But goddamn, you got me in love again.
Dua Lipa, Love Again.
As Agent Yan strode into the Pao Family Tea House, stone shoes lightly thumping against the floor, the reaction from the rest of the teashop's patrons was immediate.
Conversations were cut off in mid-sentence, and ten pairs of eyes at the wooden tables lining the walls tensely, warily redirected their focus-without making it too obvious, of course-to Hong's towering, wiry figure as he approached, then strode past their tables with the easy, confident, half-menacing gait of a prowling wolf-jaguar.
Hong couldn't help but be pleased on some level by the show of nervous deference and respect. Even though he was currently dressed in a simple dark tan robe with gold trim and a pair of bright green trousers instead of the official green uniform with its broad tasseled hat, the inhabitants of Ba Sing Se recognized even an off-duty member of the Dai Li right away when they saw one.
The rock shoes and gloves were obvious tip-offs. The way that he held his hands either behind his back or at his midriff, fingers meshing like the clenched claws of two skirmishing raven-eagles. There was definitely the great green coin-like Earth Kingdom symbol emblazoned on the breast of nearly every Koh-damned single article of clothing he and his fellow agents wore whenever out in public, whether on active duty or not.
But most of all, it was his demeanor, the look in his eyes, that made citizens of the Impenetrable City comprehend just who they were facing. And just what he could do to them if he chose.
On this morning though, there was nothing for the other customers to fear. No one was picking a fight, or trying to steal from the establishment, or being drunk and disorderly.
Most importantly of all, nobody was blabbing about the existence of war and Firebenders, or assaulting innocent employees-quite a difference, Hong knew, from what'd happened here with that screwball Jet lad just eight days earlier.
Which was just fine with Hong Yan. All he wanted was to try out a cup of this establishment's tea for himself, which according to his aunt Peishan was just "to die for." (Evidently, Pao had recently hired a true master of a tea brewer.)
One of the waiters had just stepped out from behind the counter at the shop's back, and Hong hailed him. He saw right away that the waiter was still a teenager, at least a decade younger than the 28-year-old Hong. Short but rangy, he had the intense, piercing golden eyes of a sting-hawk, eyes that seethed with poorly controlled frustration. Fire Nation in ethnicity, the agent presumed.
He also figured the teen's attitude had more than a little to do with the furrowed, rose colored, taut patch of skin which surrounded one of those eyes.
There's a majorly nasty burn scar, Hong thought. Young man's damned lucky he didn't get blinded in that eye.
On seeing there was an off-duty Dai Li agent in the shop, the scarred teen also briefly tensed up, and even braced himself to do-well, something-before immediately settling back into his previous brusque manner and striding over to Hong's table. There were few people in Ba Sing Se, least of all in the Lower Ring, that dared to keep a Dai Li agent waiting.
"Here's a menu," the scarred teen gruffly said as he shoved a stiff sheet of paper into one of Hong's stone-sheathed hands. "What do you want from it?"
His curt behavior towards a Dai Li was surprising, but Hong let it go. Not the first time in his career, and it wouldn't be the last.
Scanning the menu's entries briefly, Hong replied "Tiger's blood tea will do nicely. For a morning snack, I would like the purple sweet potato cakes. And spicy pigeon-chicken feet as well," he added, shifting his weight back in the chair, anticipation of the taste of oyster and chili sauce already making him slightly salivate.
The young, golden-eyed waiter coolly nodded before taking the menu back.
For a moment in time, Hong felt a sort of half-formed, suspicious interest as it dawned on him that his waiter had almost certainly been the very Lee which a certain Jet had been ranting about and violently attacking before Agent Dingxiang and Agent Kang had dragged his ass to the conversion chamber. His eyes narrowed as he idly wondered…
In the next instant, Hong dismissed the idea. Even if he was in the presence of a firebender, as long as the youth behaved himself, didn't talk of the war, and kept his abilities under wraps, Hong frankly didn't care if this Lee was one of the Fire Nation royalty.
As Hong contemplated the tea shop's bare walls, adorned here and there by a painting or wall hanging, another waiter approached, bearing a steaming pot of tea on a tray along with the rest of his order.
This waiter was an elderly man wearing a white apron over his simple cotton clothing, short and fat, balding with a long gray beard. Hong met his copper eyes, which held a gaze every bit as self-assured, soft, and profoundly wise as those of the tapir-gorillas at the Ba Sing Se zoo.
"Here's the tea and snacks you ordered," the old man warmly intoned. "Forgive an old man for asking, but what gives us the honor of having an officer of the Dai Li grace our humble tea shop?" he inquired as he poured a steaming stream of red liquid into a gray ceramic cup. "In more peaceful circumstances than the last occasion," he added with a knowing smile.
"The reputation it's been getting of late," Hong replied, giving a light smile of his own. He had no idea why, but there was just something so pleasantly laid-back and amiable about this old server that was immediately making Hong already like the guy, feel at ease around him. Not that he was going to lower his defenses and crack open his shell of ominous mystery entirely, of course.
"My aunt here in the Lower Ring spoke very highly of your tea when I last saw her, so I had to come taste it for myself," he said as he took the earthenware cup in his rock gloves and began to blow on the crimson fluid.
"How very nice of her to spread the word."
"Sheshen knows I need it this morning before I hit the hay," he grunted sullenly.
"Well, you can do far worse than tiger's blood tea for a bracing, invigorating brew," the old man responded as he handed Hong both plates of snacks. "I'm guessing you must have just finished a nighttime patrol shift?"
"Yes, and it was miserable," Hong said glumly as he took a first careful sip at his cup. "It sucked, to be honest. Quite a downpour going on, as you know."
"Our hats generally do a fine job of keeping the rain off of us," Hong added, "and I'm not bothered much by cold wind. But when that wind is hitting you with rain at a sharp angle-well, both my partner and I tried to keep to shelter as much as we could, but we both still got soaked to the skin and were shivering like newly hatched ostrich horses when our shift was over."
The old man frowned in sympathy. "Sorry to hear that you had to be out in that. Fortunately, the rain's over, and you can warm yourself at last. Is the tea helping?"
"Spirits, is it ever!" Hong enthused gratefully as he took another long sip. "And it tastes wonderful! Very much worth the trip."
The old man smiled, and to Hong's mild surprise, instead of taking his leave to get back to work, actually pulled up a chair across from the agent.
"Don't you have, well-tea shop duties to get back to?
"I do, but it's not every day we have a member of the Dai Li visit us, and I can spare a few minutes to become better acquainted, Officer-?"
"Yan. Agent Yan. And your own name, if I might ask?"
"Mushi," the squat old man replied.
"Well, it's good to meet you, Mushi. I'm guessing you're the new tea brewer here?"
"None other."
"Then it looks like I'm going to be coming here a lot more often when I'm off duty, from the way this cup of tiger's blood tastes," Hong told him as he raised a pigeon-chicken foot to his mouth with a pair of chopsticks.
After chewing it well and swallowing, he took another drink of tea before giving Mushi a small, sly grin. "Rather ironic too, considering that after I graduated from the training academy, I vowed that I would have nothing more to do with the Lower Ring again if I could help it."
"You were born and raised here then?"
Hong nodded as he took a bite out of a purple sweet potato cake. It was nice to open up to a stranger a little, even if Hong really had no clue why he was doing so.
"Not exactly a pampered upbringing. I was born to a farming family here actually, and spent most of my first thirteen years tending livestock, helping with the chores, looking after my baby brothers-and having mud fights with them in the paddies and fields-helping to harvest the crops, that sort of thing-until the Dai Li's recruiting officer took notice of my special talents," he said smugly. Hong gave a measured, somewhat aggravated smile over his tea. "Some of the other agents still call me 'Farm Boy. ' You could say that makes me a little self-conscious."
"There's still nothing wrong with honoring and being proud of where you come from," Mushi said. "And even the Lower Ring can be a place of beauty, if you have the eyes and the patience to see it."
"Indeed," the old man knowingly added, turning his head away slightly from Hong, "I think there's some beauty to be found in this very shop right now."
Hong laughed as he raised another pigeon-chicken foot to his mouth. "This tea shop is a nice enough place, don't get me wrong, and this tea, these snacks, are top of the line. But I have a hard time seeing anything especially exquisite when it comes to the furnishings."
"Besides," he added somewhat moodily as he began to chew the gelatinous treat, idly looking around, "after spending hours patrolling in chilly rain last night, I'm not really in the spirit for seeing beau-"
And then Hong did a double take. Sitting alone, several tables down, and nursing at her own cup of tea, was a striking young woman, not much younger than himself.
Her shiny black hair was worn in a queue like his own, but was done up into a side braid which fell down her right shoulder, lying against the mint-green fabric of her simple robe. Her skin was unusually dark in color, dark enough that at first glance, Hong wondered if he was looking at Katara, the Avatar's waterbender companion.
But a look at her eyes buried that idea. Those eyes! Hong had never seen ones more enchanting and exotic. Unlike the narrow ones of most women in Ba Sing Se-unlike pretty much everybody's eyes, for that matter-hers were larger, rounder in form.
Warm brown in color, they were made even more compelling by the black eyeliner which haloed them.
In the right side of her nose, a large quartz and brass stud glistened. And she had a lovely figure too, from what Hong could see-including that chest.
He was halfway-snapped back to attention when he heard Mushi calmly saying, "You might want to do something about that pigeon-chicken foot sticking out of your mouth."
Flushing with embarrassment, Hong hurriedly bolted his snack before meeting the young woman's gaze once more. Her beauty was truly breathtaking, and when his mouth opened again, it was to simply half-gape for a few moments before he realized he should probably close it.
"Wow," he declared to Mushi, voice hushed, now as firmly hypnotized as any prisoner before the conversion lantern. "In the name of Sheshen…Has she been here all this time?"
"Why yes," Mushi grinned. "Too far away to eavesdrop, but she's been shooting glances at you all the while. She's also been coming here every day for at least the past week to have oolong tea," he added. "I'd say she likes you."
Hong thinly, distantly smiled.
"Do you know her name, by any chance?"
"I don't," the old man said, although Hong had a very strong feeling that this Mushi was lying to his face. "But you could always find out for yourself-and I know that like lovely music, tea is always best when enjoyed with a friend," he added with a cagey half smile.
"Uh, yeah, I-I suppose I shall," an enraptured Hong decided as he stood. The first thing he did was bend the stone of each glove into a tight ring, which he then moved well into both sleeves of his robe until they were wrapped around each bicep.
While there wasn't exactly a rule manual for how a Dai Li agent should go about courting, he certainly didn't want to come across as threatening with this first encounter. Then he made his move.
He was only dimly aware of Mushi thoughtfully replacing his tea and snacks on the serving tray before following him at a respectful distance as Hong tried to decide how to break the ice.
Please don't blow this by saying anything lame, he prayed. Should he be formal, or keep it simple?
"Ni hao," he told her as he pulled out a wooden chair across from her and began to sit down. "Mind if I join you?"
Unfortunately, in his besotted state, Hong failed to set his weight squarely on the seat, and he felt himself skewing sideways, hurriedly flailing like a turtle-pig on its back before grabbing the side of the table and regaining his balance.
Feeling rather sheepish, he seated himself more properly, and recovered his composure as the woman gave him an amused look.
"Have I done something to disturb the peace, officer?" she half-jokingly asked, visibly shying back a little.
"Not at all," Hong replied. "I-I just couldn't help noticing-"
"It's not every day you see a Dai Li agent just stroll into a Lower Ring tea sh-" she began at the same time in a silvery, accented voice before they both realized they were talking over each other and broke off with a quick laugh as Mushi carefully put Hong's tray in front of him.
"Enjoy yourselves," the old server grinned before leaving and striding away to join, at the limits of Hong's vision, what seemed like a visibly cross and paranoid Lee as they both disappeared into the back of the shop. Was that kid ever happy?
Hong half-thought he heard Lee hiss at Mushi as they left, "Uncle, what are you thinking, getting so chummy with a Dai Li agent that he even tells you his nickname on the force when we're supposed to be hid-"
But right now, he only had an interest in his new lady companion as they sipped at their respective cups of tea.
"In any case, do you mind if I ask your name?" he inquired of her.
"I'm Rajata," she demurely replied, and Hong could tell that she was deeply charmed, flattered, enraptured, and astonished all at once that he, an agent of the normally taciturn, even grim Dai Li, was taking a serious interest in her!
"Rajata," he repeated blissfully, loving the way it felt to his tongue. "Silver. How fitting. My name's, um, Hong."
"A wild swan," Rajata grinned back, teeth brilliant against the mocha skin of her face. "Cool name, Hong."
"I suppose it is, yes," Hong smiled. Taking a deep breath for courage, he said, "I'd like to ask you two things."
"Sure."
"First, is it okay if I pay for both our portions of tea?"
"Certainly! How kind of you Hong."
He ate another pigeon-chicken foot before continuing, "You probably know this already, but as a member of the Dai Li, I can travel anywhere in this vast city that I please, in or out of uniform. Have you ever seen the area within the city's Upper Ring?"
As expected, Rajata shook her head. "Never. I've been granted a passport a few times to enter the Middle Ring area, but there's no way I could ever hope to get one for the Upper. I can only dream of what a lovely place it must be," she sighed wistfully.
"Well, whenever I'm not needed at headquarters or on duty," Hong said, careful not to let too much slip, "I spend my time in a very nice house there-and it's not very far from the palace either."
"So, anyway," he went on, scratching above his right ear in uncertainty, "I was wondering, if you can find the time, would you like to visit the Upper Ring with me sometime?"
Now it was Rajata's turn to be stunned, her own mouth briefly going into a gape before she shut it. "Seriously? You mean it?" she blurted.
Hong nodded.
"Wow," Rajata said simply as she rocked back in her chair. "Sure, you bet I would! Just tell me when!" Suddenly fretful, she averted her gaze as she went on, "But I'm just a common peasant girl Hong. I couldn't show my face there, not dressed in an outfit like-"
"Leave that all to me," Hong replied with a dismissive wave of one hand while holding a half-eaten sweet potato cake in the other. "I can easily arrange a delivery of well, more suitable attire for you to wear."
"Sweet Parvati," Rajata beamed in wonder, hardly able to grasp such a boon. "I'd never have thought someone in the Dai Li could be so-kindly. And generous. What can I say but thank you?"
"Sometimes, we secret police manage to even surprise ourselves," Hong drolly smiled. "And you're very welcome. At any event," he went on, "two days from now, I'll be working a daytime patrol. If I don't get saddled with additional duties from the boss, could you meet me by the closest gate for the Middle Ring from this tea shop, at sunset?"
"I'll have a carriage waiting for transport," he added. "I'd be glad to take you anywhere you want for dinner. Or we could go to my own residence. My cook there, Shan, is very good at what he does. "
Rajata's black-lined eyes twinkled with amazed pleasure at the idea, then became thoughtful as she nodded. "Yes, that will work nicely. I should be done by then helping my parents at their spice stall. Just give me some time to get ready-and if you don't mind, I would like to eat out somewhere first before visiting your home. Take the Upper Ring's sights in, you know?"
When they'd both finished their tea, and Hong had cleared off his plates, Rajata followed him to the front counter, where he handed over some coins to Mushi, saying "I'll be paying for us both. And-thanks," he added fondly.
"You're very welcome," the old waiter replied.
Hong and Rajata walked together almost to the door. It was there they parted ways, Rajata's lips curving upward as she said, "Well, see you later, Agent Hong."
Hong Yan nodded and gave her what he hoped was a warm smile as he began to walk off-then was stopped as he suddenly felt a sleek, carob-brown hand daring to ardently stroke his right side for a brief, lingering moment before pulling away.
He was so flustered and startled by the bold gesture that the stones of the armbands he'd temporarily formed out of his gloves went clattering all over the floor.
Depending on how I feel and my motivation, I might add another chapter-or maybe even two-onto this fic. For now though, it's just a charming one-shot.
Edit: This is now a multi-chapter romance fic!
Also, as an aside, am I the only one who wishes we'd seen a few more ethnically Indian-based characters in the series besides just Guru Pathik? So I made one to fill the gap a bit. *grins"
Reviews, as ever, make my day!