Jin was honestly a bit sad that Azula was no longer helping in the main area. Apparently, her Uncle wanted to train her in the art of tea making.

Which meant that Azula wouldn't be able to sass the customers anymore. Jin always found that more entertaining than she probably should.

The entire Team Avatar didn't come by. Katara and Sokka did, and of course Suki was there, but Aang and Toph were missing.

Jin made her way over to the Water Tribe siblings. "Hey guys," she said. "Where's Aang and Toph?"

A few tables away, Mrs. Hu casually turned her head to hear better.

Katara and Sokka glanced at each other, then back at Jin. "They're helping the Earth King with something," said Katara. "They'll probably be too busy to come here for a while."

Jin pouted. "Oh, that's a shame. Would you like your usuals?"

"Yes please."

Jin made her way to the small kitchen window and gave the order to the worker on the other side. She began to make her rounds again.

Jin smiled at Mrs. Hu as she refilled her cup. "Good morning, Mrs. Hu! How are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing very well, dear! Is Mianju alright? I haven't seen her today!"

"Oh, she's fine. Her uncle has decided to train her on how to make tea, so she'll be working in the kitchen for the foreseeable future."

Mrs. Hu nodded. "I'm glad to hear she's alright. I was so worried about her after her… episode…"

Jin remembered vividly how Azula had shouted out in her sleep, loud enough for almost the entire restaurant to hear. She nodded to Mrs. Hu.

"Don't worry, she's doing fine now."

Mrs. Hu smiled as she sipped her tea. "That's nice to hear. Thank you."

Jin heard a sudden commotion in the kitchen. "Turn the heat down!" shouted Iroh. "You'll scald the leaves! Then your tea will just be hot leaf juice!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" responded Azula. "All tea is just hot leaf juice!"

"How could yet another member of my own family say something so horrible! You wound me like your brother!"

Jin looked at Mrs. Hu, before breaking into giggles. Mrs. Hu laughed as well.

"I've met Mianju's brother, too," said Jin. "I can totally imagine him saying something like that."

Mrs. Hu smiled at Jin, and Jin broke into giggles again.

0-0-0

"They've all been telling the truth so far, Aang," said Toph.

Aang nodded. "Is there any way they could be tricking you, like… like Azula was able to?"

Toph grimaced. "As much as I hate to admit it… maybe… but we did establish a baseline first, so I doubt it."

Aang nodded. They had indeed asked each Dai Li member and advisor to make one demonstrably true statement, and one lie, so that Toph could have a basic idea of what changed when they lied.

"Also, I got the feeling that some of them were truthful about not knowing about any coup attempts, but would gladly join in if one presented itself."

Aang eyed Toph, even though she couldn't see it. Toph kept her milky gaze on the floor, as usual. "How could you tell?" he asked.

"Their heartbeats got… excited… when I asked if they were involved with Long Feng or any of the former Dai Li leaders. Like, a happy excited. Like they hoped he would come back."

"Did you remember their names?"

"I tried to, at least," said Toph. "Tung and Yang were the big ones, but others too. The new Dai Li leader, though? Zhou? He seems good. If anything, he got apprehensive at the mention of the old Dai Li coming back. I think he'll be good for the Earth King, at least."

Aang nodded. "That's good to hear, at least…"

0-0-0

Two current Dai Li agents made their way swiftly and silently through the Lower Ring. No one saw them, no one turned to look at them. No one knew they were there.

It took them several hours of careful combing through the streets, but eventually they found it. A decrepit, seemingly abandoned warehouse with light coming from inside.

Curious.

They made their way to a broken window and peered inside.

"The Avatar is helping the Earth King with a mission of some sort. He will continue to stay in Ba Sing Se until they are done," said an old lady bowing to a figure behind a desk.

"Unacceptable," came the voice of Long Feng. "We must figure out how to get the Avatar and his friends out of the picture so that we may proceed with our plans."

The two intruders glanced at each other and slipped silently in through the window.

"Perhaps we can be of assistance," said Tung.

0-0-0

Azula was seething.

Everything she did was wrong, according to Uncle. The amount of leaves she put in the pot, the amount of time she spent heating it, the temperature, everything! And of course he did his best to correct her in a calm manner, save for one time when she apparently was going to ruin a whole pot of tea by heating it too high.

It was infuriating! Why bother pretending like he had endless patience? Why did he think honeyed words would make her feel any better?

And that was the weirdest thing, the fact that her failures stung. Who cares? It's just hot leaf juice, after all!

And yet, Azula found herself wanting to get it right. For Uncle to look at her and tell her that her tea was brewed to perfection.

And that might have been the most infuriating part of it all.

0-0-0

Long Feng smiled. Apparently, the Avatar was aware of the old Dai Li planning something.

It wasn't good that the Avatar was catching on, but what was good was the fact that the old Dai Li still had allies in the new ranks. Tung and Yang were the ones with the initiative to seek Long Feng out and pledge themselves to his cause, but they promised that they could find many, many more who longed for the days when the Dai Li were the arbiters of Ba Sing Se. They saw Zhou, the new head, as a weak puppet of the King. They grumbled about their decreased power, about the lack of prestige that once surrounded their duties, and the new air of suspicion that all the officials look at them with.

With their help, things could be sped up. They were to recruit only people who had already been questioned by the Avatar. They would build up support. They would position themselves around the Jasmine Dragon and the palace.

And when the time was right, they would attack, taking out Earth King Kuei, General Iroh, Princess Azula, and, if need be, the Avatar, in one fell swoop. Ba Sing Se would once again belong to the Dai Li.

Things are coming together, thought Long Feng.

Author's Note:

I'm back!

I'm finally making some progress on this story!

Hope you don't mind the short chapter, I'm just getting back into the swing of things and I want to build up a buffer of already written chapters.

Comments are greatly appreciated! Let me know what you think, or where you think this is going! :D