Another chapter off the presses.
There's nothing in this one that might disturb or offend readers, so sit back and relax.
"I think it's time we stop/
Children, what's that sound?/
Everybody look what's going down/
There's battle lines being drawn/..."
For What It's Worth, by Buffalo Springfield, 1967.
Long experience had taught Rajata that the busiest times for customers at their spice stall tended to be either around midday, when all the professional cooks, servants, and housewives went shopping for whatever ingredients might be required for the day's lunch, or in the late afternoon, in preparation for the family dinner.
But in between those peaks of activity, the numbers of potential customers on the streets definitely thinned out-especially when the day was a hot one.
Only a handful of people were out on the streets, braving the heat of the afternoon sun. None of them paid any attention to Rajata as she sat in the cooling shade of the stall's awning, behind the wooden counter.
With not much else to do, she amused herself by using her bending to mold a chunk of stone about the size of an apple as her parents made small talk behind her, careful movements of her hands and fingers shaping it into the likeness of one of the scimitar-toothed cats she'd seen lounging in the Earth King's zoo.
While it was no gallery-worthy piece of sculpture, it was still coming out decent enough, she felt.
And indeed, as Ashwin strode over on her left, he commented in approval, "Nice animal figure you're shaping, kutty. Not half bad. I'm guessing that's one of the exotic beasts you saw in the Imperial Zoo?"
Rajata smiled, then nodded, even as the short, but protruding upper canines and blunt muzzle took shape in response to the movements of two quivering brown fingers on each hand.
"That's right," she replied. "Like I said when I got back from my visit there, the scimitar-toothed cats were very much one of my favorites. Beautiful, elegant, and deadly all at once."
Not too different from Hong in that regard, I suppose, she briefly thought.
Her father gave a small, wistful smile. "Sure would be nice to see them for myself."
She giggled. "Oh, I'm sure I can make that happen easily enough, appa. All I have to do is tell Hong your desires in a letter, and then you and Mom will almost certainly be strolling through the royal menagerie yourselves, in only a matter of days."
Ashwin grinned in delighted anticipation, before shaking his head in disbelieving wonder at the idea. "Me, a common refugee and spice seller, getting to not only enter the Upper Ring, but walk the palace grounds. It almost seems too good to be true."
"But it is true," Rajata reminded her father.
He nodded. "I still can't believe you actually met the Earth King himself there."
"That was definitely the ultimate 'pinch me' moment in my life," Rajata heartily agreed. "And let's not forget meeting the Grand Secretariat either," she reminded him, even as she worked at the big cat's flat hind paws.
She briefly stopped then to stand, and languorously stretch, releasing the tension in her shoulders and arms. As she did, a female voice from across the street caught her attention.
"Rajata! Long time no see!"
On hearing the classic Earth Kingdom greeting, Rajata glanced in the speaker's direction, and saw Xingjuan, another old acquaintance of hers from school and childhood, striding towards her. She wore a frayed, avocado green hemp shirt, bordered with mint green and secured with a dark brown sash, over a pair of baggy gray trousers.
Rajata smiled, and gave Xingjuan the namaste greeting as she lightly laughed, responding "Good to see you as well, Xingjuan. But I wouldn't call a couple weeks all that long of a hiatus."
Her parents also respectfully greeted Xingjuan before Rajata asked, "Anyway, how have things been going for you, and the rest of your family?"
"Things are going smoothly as ever, I suppose. Pan and I keep getting up in the morning and doing our respective jobs," she shrugged, referring to her husband.
Thoughtfully glancing past Rajata to scan the stall's interior, Xingjuan then commented, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm surprised that the three of you are still bothering to work here anymore. With the sort of money your new boyfriend must receive for his…enforcement duties, and I assume is freely sharing with you at this point, there's nothing to stop you three now from just lying back and enjoying the easy life. I sure would be."
"He's certainly generous towards us," Rajata replied, "and we all deeply appreciate it. And believe me, the thought of quitting our day jobs for good has certainly been on our minds. But you also don't want to count your hog-chickens before they're hatched-and until, if, our wedding day comes," she said, unable to help briefly lowering her head as she felt her cheeks flush, "it's prudent for us to still keep this business to fall back on, in case things end up just not working out between us for some reason."
"That's a good point," Xingjuan conceded, nodding.
"It also gives us something to do with our day," Ashwin chimed in. "Personally, I've never been fond of being idle for long periods."
"And neither have I," Madhuri said. "I also just enjoy seeing and talking with our regular customers."
"I can understand that," Xingjuan said. She hesitated then, giving Rajata what seemed like a slightly nervous look before saying, "Speaking of your boyfriend, I have some gossip to share with you-but just with you Rajata, away from this stall. And with nobody eavesdropping," she added, glancing meaningfully at Rajata's parents.
Once she and Xingjuan were alone in a nearby alley, curious and slightly wary, Rajata asked her in a subdued voice, "Okay, I'm ready. What's going on?"
Xingjuan hesitated again, scanning every roof, every patch of afternoon shadow, before softly saying, "First of all, is Hong planning to stop by anytime soon, or take you anywhere today?"
Her apprehension was a sudden, sharp reminder to Rajata, like a pitcher of cold water dumped over her head, that as much as Hong might mean to her now as her lover and hero, he was still a grim, domineering, dangerous Dai Li agent as far as most other people in Ba Sing Se were concerned, who would do whatever he had to in the name of silencing dissension.
And that even she should never get too relaxed in her speech around him.
"Not as far as I'm aware."
Xingjuan scanned her surroundings for a few more seconds before leaning in, raising a finger for emphasis before telling her, voice low, "First of all, this is only a rumor, keep in mind, one that's only been just starting to go around. I have no clue if its true or not-and if anyone asks, suspects anything, you did not hear this from me, got it?"
"My lips are sealed." Rajata vowed. "Anyway, what's the news?"
"Well, I heard from this older woman I know that the Earth King had Minister Long Feng arrested and imprisoned just the other day! Can you believe that?"
And Rajata couldn't. She was both astounded, and deeply confused. She'd been in the grand company of the two most powerful men in this walled city just a few days ago, and even though it'd only been for a few hours, the relationship between them had seemed amiable enough (if rather cool on Long Feng's end) with no obvious signs of tension or animosity between them that she could recall.
Then again, spirits knew that even among people who'd been great friends for years, all it took was just one offensive remark, or misdeed, to suddenly make them deeply despise each other.
She blinked, then frowned. "Arrested? His own advisor? Why in the world would he go and do a thing like that?" she pondered, placing her hands on her hips as she pursed her lips. "I mean, Long Feng all but raised him, at least ever since the Earth Queen's death. Assuming this rumor is true," she added.
"Your guess is good as mine," Xingjuan said. "All I know is that he must've done something which majorly pissed His Majesty off."
Rajata nodded contemplatively. "For sure."
After Xingjuan bid her goodbye a little while later, having said her piece, Rajata mulled over what she'd just been told as she paced back to the family stall. In the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se, rumors were a way of life, growing and spreading among its inhabitants like weeds.
Trouble was, Vishnu knew that rumors were a far cry from actual facts, often proving to be no more solid than the clouds in the sky were, and changing nearly as frequently.
But one could never rule out the possibility that they were true, either. If Long Feng had been arrested-and presumably, removed from his position of power-under the Earth King's orders, you really had to wonder what the guy had done to deserve it.
While she didn't pretend to be any sort of expert when it came to politics, Rajata still knew that, for at least as long as she could remember-which was seemingly forever-Long Feng had, out of necessity, been the true, acting ruler and administrator of this city, with the child and then teenage Earth King mostly performing just the simple or ceremonial duties of his kingship.
But nothing ever stayed the same forever. Kuei was no child anymore, after all, but a young man of a similar age to her, with a mind and will of his own, and a confidence in his powers which common sense said only increased with each passing year.
It also made perfect sense that he would also be flexing his muscles more and more, pushing back against Long Feng's constraints, disputing the other, older man's not-unreasonable position that he had far more competence and experience when it came to governing, so His Majesty should just fall in line and leave him to it.
Naturally, either because he sincerely felt he knew best how to manage Ba Sing Se's affairs, didn't want to relinquish any of the power he'd held for so long, or both, she could see how Long Feng would push back in return, with both ruler and minister not just increasingly testing, but even warily stepping over each other's boundaries.
Perhaps Long Feng had finally crossed a line, gotten on King Kuei's nerves once too often-and paid the price.
Or maybe, it suddenly occurred to Rajata, Long Feng was caught trying to do something even worse to the Earth King than just keep him under his thumb. Some sort of criminal plot-like trying to subvert the Mandate of Heaven and overthrow him.
The thought made her shudder as she approached the door in the back of her family stall. She desperately hoped to all the spirits that if that was so, Hong had played no role in the hypothetical scheme, done nothing to warrant the brutal punishments that she'd heard traitors to the state received.
No, Rajata reassured herself. While Hong might not have the most noble or righteous career, he'd still never dream of helping to undermine or depose his king, she was convinced. He was too good to participate in something that shady.
Either way though-assuming that Xingjuan had been speaking the truth, of course-with the head of the secret police now imprisoned and disgraced, her boyfriend and his fellow agents were in a very tumultuous, complicated situation right now, a ship's crew abruptly lacking a captain, and very likely having to deal with a king that was none too pleased with the Dai Li right now.
She really didn't want to think about how that could end up playing out.
Remember, she reminded herself, breathing deeply, when you get down to the bedrock, all you have to go on is a rumor that you've heard from only a single person. At worst, there was probably just a small dispute between them, which then became exaggerated with each retelling, so don't make too much of it.
A calming thought.
But there was also a part of Rajata that knew far better.
Nine hours after being present to greet the trio of Kyoshi Warriors, Hong sat alone in his quarters under the lake after having eaten dinner in the cafeteria, reading a book of traditional stories from the library under the emerald light of a small glowstone. As for his partner, Guozhi was currently working out in one of the training rooms.
They were both fairly decent methods of keeping one's mind occupied with other things. And right now, Hong needed a mental distraction in the worst way.
He read through the short tale about the magic pottery cask, which replicated any object placed inside of it until the huge vessel was packed with them. The next story was about a brave youth, who climbed up to a mountain cave that was home to a huge, nine-headed bird, to save a king's daughter that the bird had kidnapped.
Hong grimaced in distaste as he began to read, letting the scroll roll up again as he tossed it onto his stone desk. He really didn't want to be thinking about kings at the moment. But to his annoyance, his stupid mind jumped on the topic anyway as he grumbled, thinking back on the events of the day.
After formally welcoming his trio of visitors, Kuei had led them up the steps into the palace proper, inviting the young women to have a private audience with him in his throne room and get to meet his precious bear-that last prospect had seemed to especially intrigue one of the girls, who wore her hair in a looped braid that rivaled Rajata's in its length-then have tea and lunch with him in his personal dining chamber, the courses probably already prepared and waiting.
As much as Hong would've liked to have spent more time in the company of his spiritual "sisters,"-and perhaps learn something about why they happened to have Fire Nation type eyes-the Monkey King had dismissed all four agents on his way to his throne room.
As he'd done so, he'd given all of them a sidelong look, judgmental and disappointed, which made it pretty clear that after this, he didn't want to see any members of the Dai Li around for a good long while.
Well, Hong could live with that-at least, as long as Kuei proved content to merely sulk and moan. Most of the "loyalist" Imperial Guards were sent away as well, except for two, one flanking their king on each side as he disappeared down the grand hallways with his visitors in town.
Once outside, one of those said royal guards had tried to spit on Agent Jinhai before both groups could go their separate ways. That had quickly proven to be a big mistake. A split lip and broken fingers would certainly teach the bastard a thing or two, Hong thought.
But fortunately, in spite of the way the stone of the plaza had throbbed, quivered, even cracked with the barely suppressed anger of all four Dai Li and the Imperial Guards alike as they stared each other down, Hong fully prepared to charge forward and shoot forth his stone gloves, both groups had somehow managed to display just enough sense and professionalism to keep the situation from exploding into a full-blown brawl.
Certainly, neither side wanted to make a bad impression upon the Kyoshi Warriors, tarnish their diplomatic visit by throwing down right outside the palace minutes after they'd arrived, when all those young ladies probably wanted to do was just peacefully settle in and enjoy tea with His Majesty. And spirits knew it wouldn't exactly be wise for he and his fellow Dai Li to give The Monkey King yet another reason to be majorly pissed off at them right now, Hong thought.
On disembarking from the tram car underneath Lake Laogai, the four of them had been greeted by a Joo Dee, who had cheerily told them that in their absence, the esteemed Commander Quan had decreed that until further notice, all personnel were to remain here at headquarters when not actively working. None of them, including the trainees, would be allowed to go back to their actual homes or interact with non-Dai Li more than they had to, during at least the next several days.
Hong couldn't say he was terribly surprised by such news, and it was a very reasonable course of action by their commander, to have them band together, watch and wait and prepare as a united force for whatever might come next.
But the timing of Quan's decision was awfully inconvenient and exasperating-especially since, although he'd very much put the cart before the ostrich-horse in this situation by already having gotten busy with Rajata, he'd all but made up his mind to ask Ashwin for official permission to court his eldest daughter tomorrow.
But there'd be plenty of time for that later.
Right now, they all had to save their own butts first.
Seated on the dining mat with the rest of her family, Rajata placed a scoop of korma curry in her mouth and chewed, savoring the taste of the spices and yogurt-braised mutton-capybara as her mother went around with the clay pot of steaming tea.
"Chai anyone?" Madhuri offered, smiling under her lime green dupatta, adorned with the figures of displaying peacocks.
"I'd love some, please," Tuhina replied, as she proffered her earthenware cup, which Madhuri took and filled before giving it back to her. "Nandri, amma."
As Madhuri filled Ashwin's cup next, Tuhina then looked down at her chai and sighed before saying, "Speaking of tea, I have some news to share about Pao's place that I thought would interest you guys." (By now, not only Rajata, but all three of her siblings had enjoyed at least one cup of tea there due to her endorsement of its wares, while her parents hadn't yet found the time to stop by.)
"Did you find a rich boyfriend there too?" Maalai asked teasingly, grinning as she glanced knowingly at her eldest sister.
"Heh, I wish," Tuhina grunted.
Rajata listened in interest as her middle sister continued, "Anyway, after school was over, Rithuna asked me to come with her there and chat about girl things over a cup of tea before we parted ways. Well, it sounded good to me, and off we went-but when we got there, right away something seemed weird, different to us."
"Weird in what way?" Ashwin asked, as he took a bite of butter-brushed naan.
"I'm getting to that," Tuhina replied. "Anyway, Pao greeted us when we walked through the door, and while he was friendly and everything, he seemed kind of glum to us," she said with a frown. "But even more importantly, as we sat down, we realized that Mushi hadn't come over and said hello to us yet-which we all know isn't like him-and then that he was nowhere to be seen at all. And neither was that grumpy Lee kid."
"That's too bad," Maalai said. "Sounds like Mushi is either sick or got hurt in some way, and Lee's having to take care of him until he gets better, I'm guessing. Poor guy."
Tuhina shook her head. "I thought so too, and actually asked Pao if Mushi was okay. He sighed, and told us that yes, he was-but that as of four days ago, he and Lee had quit working there."
"Aww," Rajata and Pankaja both went in disappointment.
"That's unfortunate to hear," Madhuri said, as she swallowed a mouthful of paneer. "I know you kids think highly of him."
And Rajata agreed. But she was also puzzled.
"Did Pao say anything about just why they decided to quit?" she asked her sister. "I mean, Mushi at least, seemed to truly enjoy his job there."
"Or where they went off to?" Maalai added, as she took another bite of her korma curry.
Tuhina shrugged, taking a swig of her chai. "Rithuna asked the same thing, and evidently this rich guy named Quon showed up the other day, to offer Mushi his very own tea shop in the Upper Ring. And it was a temptation he just couldn't refuse."
"That explains why Pao isn't exactly a happy camper," Pankaja commented.
"Quite a loss for him," Ashwin agreed. "But when you're truly skilled at what you do for a living, word is going to get around-and then everyone and their uncle will be begging for you to come join my team instead."
"Way business works. Can't say I blame Mushi for wanting to be his own boss and live a cushier life though," Rajata shrugged, thinking of Hong as she sipped at her own chai.
"Yeah. But we sure won't be seeing him around anymore, if he and Lee are moving to the Upper Ring," Pankaja frowned in disappointment. "And we definitely won't be enjoying any more of his tea."
"Speaking of which, how was your tea there, now that Mushi wasn't-isn't-around to brew it?" Maalai asked her older sister.
"It was okay," Tuhina casually shrugged. "It wasn't gross or bitter or anything. But it still fell short in quality, compared to what us sibs have all become spoiled with. I guess we'll have to put up with it though," she sighed.
"Not necessarily," Rajata assured her sister as she took another bite of korma curry. "In fact, tell you guys what," she proposed, glancing at her siblings. "I'll try to find out later when I can just where Mushi's new tea house is in the Upper Ring-and then, whenever I can find the time, use the pass Hong gave me to bring any one of you there, along with me."
"Sounds great," Pankaja grinned, white teeth flashing. "You're an awesome sister, you know that Raj?"
"Oh, I try," Rajata smirked.
Tuhina nodded. "Yeah, thanks. Still, it's going to make enjoying a cup of the best tea in this city a bit more complicated now, needing to bring you along for clearance. Not that I don't enjoy my big sister's company," she smiled.
"Well, there's really no other option," Rajata replied, lightly shrugging. "But there's also no hurry. I mean, it's not like Mushi is some sort of wanted fugitive who might have to bail at a minute's notice," she chuckled.
She simply could not believe her good luck.
But then, Azula reminded herself, unlike her incompetent brother, she was just born lucky. And when you were the sort of person who went out and helped their luck along with hard work, by leaping on sudden opportunities before they were lost to you-then things happened, then the paths to success showed themselves.
If the great drill hadn't been stopped in its tracks-right at the moment of victory! -by the Avatar and his companions, she would've gladly joined War Minister Qin and his troops in engaging Ba Sing Se's defenders on the ground, and ultimately, conquering the city with steel and fire.
That was no longer an option, of course. But that was all right. She'd always preferred the more subtle, insidious approach anyway.
At the outset, she'd led Mai and Ty Lee on their wild mission with the relatively simple purpose of gaining access to the very heart of the Impenetrable City, to spy in plain sight among the halls of the Imperial Palace and gather whatever information they could-about its government, its current political scene, the size and movements and quality of its military, if there were corrupt officials that could be influenced-anything potentially useful.
And there was every chance that the Avatar was somewhere around here too. When he inevitably showed himself again, she'd be ready and waiting.
It almost seemed too good to be true, how the Earth King proved within minutes to be as clueless and dumb as a giant tortoise-ox once he had them alone in his throne room, revealing what should've been highly classified political and military information as casually as if he'd been talking about the flowers in his gardens. Even Zuzu knew better then to blab so freely about such matters.
The statement that he was planning to invade her country and preemptively attack her people was awfully alarming-but to be forewarned was to be forearmed.
And then, with his sorrowful talk about Long Feng, the ideas began to dawn within Azula's mind like the swelling morning sun. Just like the Avatar and his hangers-on had done with the seemingly unstoppable drill, she could bring down this city, the ultimate prize, from the inside.
All she needed was a silver tongue, and the help of some new "friends."
That night, filled with mounting, if controlled, excitement and anticipation as she looked out over the palace grounds from their new guesthouse, bolstered by Ty Lee's worshipful words, Azula smiled before speaking into the darkness.
"From the inside," she told her companions, "we're in the perfect position to organize a coup and overthrow the Earth King. The key is the Dai Li." She turned away from the window, facing her old friends. "Whoever controls the Dai Li, controls Ba Sing Se."
Needless to say, things are going to rapidly intensify...