Chapter 1: Return to Omashu
A number of people were standing on the wooden walkway that overlooked the mountainous city below it. On the left were the wary forms of three teens, a boy with a shaved head who was wearing loose, billowy clothes, another boy dressed in blue with a ponytail and his hand clenched tightly around a club, and finally, a girl with long, brown hair, also dressed in cool, blue clothes.
These were of course, Aang, Sokka and Katara, affectionately known as the "Gaang" by some people.
On the left was another three teens, but this time it was all girls. To the left stood the apparent leader of the group, her posture haughty and arrogant, her cruel features formed into a smirk with tied back black hair and dark red and gold armour.
In the centre was a tall, thin girl, one with cold features which currently sported a glare. Finally, on the right stood the friendliest looking one of the group, a brown-haired girl with a wide smile on her face and a bubbly aura, dressed in an abdomen revealing halter top and pants.
Azula, Mai and Ty Lee respectively.
Finally, there was one more apparent member in this scenario, one trapped inside of a metal box hanging from a crane above.
"Hi everybody!" King Bumi chuckled, his mad nature showing through as upon Azula's direction, Bumi was lowered to the ground behind the three girls, cackling quietly as he waited.
"You brought my brother?" Mai asked coolly, glaring at the avatar.
"He's here. We're ready to trade." Aang replied, gesturing towards the quietly sleeping form of Tomtom who was strapped to Sokka's chest. Seeing this, a hint of relief formed in Mai's eyes as she made to step forward, only for Azula to interject, putting a hand in front of her friend's chest.
"I'm sorry," Azula said to Mai, a callous smirk still on her face, "but a thought just occurred to me. Do you mind?"
A frown crossed her face, but Mai acquiesced, nodding slowly as she steeped back. "Of course not, Princess Azula."
A couple of frowns appeared on everyone else's faces, a cold feeling forming in their chests.
"We're trading a two-year-old for a king." Azula began, looking up at the king in question. "A powerful, earthbendng king?"
"Mm-hmm." Bumi nodded with exaggeration, his mad smile never leaving his face.
"It just doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it?"
A thoughtful look appeared on Mai's face as she thought over the idea, looking to her brother as he yawned and nestled his head into Sokka's shoulder happily. A hint of concern appeared in her cold, grey eyes before it disappeared.
"You're right." Mai admitted, walking forward as a cold smile crossed Azula's face. "The deal's off."
Holding up her hand, Bumi was hoisted back into the air, the chain he was attached to making him sway through the air with glee.
"Whoa! See you all later!" The king yelled, cackling as he went, clearly enjoying the situation.
"Bumi!" Aang yelled, sprinting forward as he drew his staff, splaying out the wings as he prepared to take flight. Seeing this, Azula made to intercept, stepping forward as she unleashed a powerful blast of blue fire. Only, instead of the expected result of an immolated figure, Aang leaped powerful, easily clearing the flame as he took flight, his red hat falling off to reveal a bright blue arrow.
"The Avatar!" Azula yelled in surprise, having now only just realised who she was dealing with, a dangerous looking smirk appearing on her face. "My lucky day."
Running over to one of the pulleys used for construction, a quick blast of fire broke one of the ropes, sending it's corresponding rope, and thus Azula, flying upwards due to the counter weight, the girl swiftly moving towards the top of the construction scaffolding.
As she did this, Aang and his fancy flying let him easily land on the metal frame that housed Bumi.
"Aang? Is that you? Where did you come from?" Bumi said in surprise, grinning widely as he did, fully aware of just what had happened
Knowing his friend as he did, Aang chose to ignore that comment. "Hang on! We're going to get you out of here." He promised, taking in a deep breath and blowing it out in the form of a cold wind, a process done using his skills as an airbender.
Slowly, the metal chain started to freeze, beginning to groan under the weight it was under. As Aang did this, he was left unaware of the fight going on below, Sokka and Katara engaging in a fast-paced battle against Mai and Ty Lee.
"Aang, stop your blowing for a minute, there is something I need to tell you." Bumi said, for the first time calmly, no sign of his madness present.
But even now Aang was still unable to respond, focused too intently on his work on breaking the chain, ice now covering it in it's entirety as the groans became more prevalent. Because he was so focused however, this meant that he was caught almost unaware by an incoming stream of fire, sent by the irate princess with a powerful kick.
"Ahh!" Aang yelped in surprise, swing his hand to create a current of air, deflecting the fire to the side to leave both him and Bumi unharmed. At the same time he did this, he began to wind up his other arm, the one that held his staff.
Grasping the end with his other hand, Aang swung down with a powerful blow.
"Now hold on just a…" Aang's staff broke through the frozen chain, the brittle metal scattering to the wind as gravity began to take it's price on the pair.
"Aaah!" Bumi yelled, although part of this might have been because he was currently hurtling down towards the rock below face first, and would shortly smash into it, likely ending his life. Luckily for the man, Aang flipped the coffin over, and just as the crashed into the ground, created a ball of air to break their fall.
This meant that the landing, while not entirely smooth, was still acceptable as they smashed into the earthen chute, beginning to slide down it at a rapid pace as a trailing cloud of dust appeared behind them.
Watching this display, Azula frowned from atop the scaffolding, sprinting to one of the boxes in front of a chute to the left of the one the pair has just landed in, a powerful kick causing the box to tip forward as she jumped, her lithe form landing in it to provide a small boost as she followed behind her target.
A target that was currently laughing wildly as he balanced himself on a makeshift bobsled.
"It's just like old times, isn't it Bumi?" Aang smiled, looking down at the man.
"Aang! I need to talk to you!" Bumi yelled, raising his voice to be heard above the grinding sound coming from below him, an unusually serious expression across his face,
"It's good to see you too!" Aang yelled back, having mistaken Bumi's intension, causing a grimace to span across the veteran's face as he opened his mouth to try again, desperately wanting to get through to the younger boy.
Before he could however, a fast-approaching cloud of dust appeared on the pairs left, one that was rapidly getting closer to them. Turning to see what this was, Aang was forced to spin his staff in defence as several blasts of fire travelled towards them, Azula showing off her exquisite balance as she attacked the pair even from such a risky position, Aang's prodigious skills being the only things stopping Azula from immolating the pair.
As he did this, Azula's chute on the left rapidly veered in a turn, joining with the main chute Aang was using as the pair of boxes now travelled in a line. Seeing this Aang sent a massive gust of air in her direction, both as an attack and as a method of increasing their speed, however this attack was for naught as Azula just clasped her hands together, creating a sharp bade of fire to divide the attack, leaving her unharmed.
An 'oh crap!' expression appeared on Aang's face as he rapidly began peddling his arms, speeding the pair up even further, followed by Azula doing the same with jets of fire coming from her hands, leaving them equal in speed.
Seeing this, Aang came up with another idea as he spyed a number of wooden arches crossing over the chute up ahead, slicing through them with a blade of air as Bumi and he passed underneath, leaving them to collapse on Azula's box.
Seeing the attack connect, Aang gave a sigh of relief, losing some of his bodies tension. Only, when the box was revealed again, much to his surprise, their was no Azula to be found. His sigh quickly transformed into a yelp when Azula popped back out of the box, thrusting a hand forward in another blast of azure flame, causing Aang to drop to his belly to dodge it, letting it fly above the chute.
This song and dance continued for a while, even when Sokka and Katara came in atop the flying Bison that was Appa, but Bumi and Aang's motion continued unhindered, travelling further and further down the chutes towards the edge of the city.
Fed up with the whole things, Bumi gritted his teeth as he lifted his chin, sending a pillar of earth up and into the path of one of Azula's attacks, blocking the disc of fire at the same time as he blocked the pathway of her box, making her gasp in surprise as at the last second she leaped into the air, flipping as she came down with a flex of her legs, sliding another few metres on armoured boots as she growled in frustration, watching her prey escape her.
"You could earthbend all along?" Aang asked in surprise, looking down a his friend in confusion.
"Well, they didn't cover my face." Bumi said a little cheekily, his face visibly straining again as he lifted his chin, creating another pillar of earth in a sort of ramp, one that blocked their way down the chute, leaving Aang to leap off of Bumi as his metal coffin was propped up vertically, facing towards Aang.
"I don't understand!" Aany yelled, both annoyed and angry as he gestured with his arms. "Why didn't you free yourself? Why did you surrender when Omashu was invaded? What's the matter with you Bumi?!"
Even under the Avatar's tirade, his face didn't change, remaining calm. "Listen to me Aang .There are options in fighting, called jing. It's a choice of how you direct your energy." Bumi said, tilting his head again for no apparent reason, even if his veins bulged a little.
"I know!" Aang replied, engaging in a short lecture about jing and earthbending with the man, unaware of just what was travelling towards them on quiet feet, Bumi's smirk visibly growing as the time passed.
"…teacher will be someone who has mastered neutral jing. You need to find someone who waits and listens before striking." Bumi said with a large smile. Nodding in greeting at the flying form of Momo.
"Hey Momo!" Aang said happily, grateful for the distraction of his friend.
"Why, Momo's mastered a few jings himself!"
This earned a screech to the face.
"One more thing before I go, however." Bumi said, barely able to contain his excitement.
"Yeah?"
"There's another benefit to sitting and waiting, one that I wouldn't have found otherwise. It let's you meet new people!" Bumi yelled, laughing with the occasional snort.
"Meet new people?" Aang said in confusion, sharing a glance with Momo. "What do you mean by that?"
Feeling his cue, a tall figure silently landed behind Aang, visible only to the cackling Bumi, their cloak splaying widely around them as a sort of pseudo parachute.
Feeling the slight shift in air current, Aang looked behind himself, catching sight of the new figure.
"What the old fool meant…is me." He said, his deeper voice giving away his gender, even if the fact that his apparent height also gave it away, what with him standing at 5 foot 10 as he did, his hooded form towering over the young boy.
"Huh?" Aang said in surprise, looking confused as he glanced between the two men next to him, looking between the laughing form of Bumi and the amused expression of the man with tanned skin and cool, grey eyes.
Familiar looking eyes.
"Who are you?" Aang asked curiously, not a shred of suspicion in his face as he peered up at the man, trusting his old friend to ensure he wasn't in danger.
"I…" he said softly, raising his hands to push his hood back, "…am someone who has been interested in meeting you for a long…long time, Avatar."
"Riiiiggghhtttt…nice to meet you too? I'm Aang." Aang said a little awkwardly, still confused, but at least Bumi had finally started to calm down a bit.
"I know." The stranger said, his long back hair tied back as he smiled down at Aang.
"…well, that's not creepy at all." Aang muttered, raising a hand for a handshake, being proud of his people skills. But while Aang and the stranger were content to move along slowly, Bumi was not.
"Show him the thing!" Bumi yelled gleefully, his eye's poised on the pair.
"The thing? What thing?"
Sighing, the finger raised his arms, holding them in front of him, palms faced together. "He means this." With barely a hint of concentration, a small gust of air began forming, swirling in between the gap of the two hands as more and more air was drawn in, coming to form a little maelstrom under the wide eyes and gaping jaw of the Avatar.
"You're a…you're a…you're an Airbender!" Aang yelled in both surprise, and glee as a smile appeared on his face, unable to contain himself as he leapt forward and wrapped his arms around the shocked man, lifting him in the air.
"…yes, I am an Airbender." The figure admitted, raised in the air as he was. The pair stood there for a second, Aang holing on tightly as he buried his head in the figure's chest, showing no signs of struggle at the weight.
And they kept standing there.
"…are you going to let me down anytime soon?"
"In a minute." Aang muttered, enjoying the contact with one of his people, now knowing why the eye's looked familiar. There were the same eyes he saw every time he looked in a reflective surface.
"He really mean's it too, Aang's always been a bit of a hugger." Bumi supplied happily, watching the display with an earnest smile, happy for his young friend. Soon however, Aang let him go as they moved out of the way, letting Bumi travel back up the slope with his earthbending.
"You're not going to leave too, are you?" Aang asked, a hint of vulnerability in his voice at the thought of losing his new friend and fellow airbender.
"No," the figure denied, shaking his head, "that would defeat the purpose of looking for you for so long."
Which included the meeting he had had with the mad king, and boy had that been an experience.
… A Few Hours Earlier…
As our main character approached the city of Omashu, he was greeted with a sight he had not been expecting. Instead of the dull brown building with hints of green decoration scattered around that he'd expected, covering much of the green earth kingdom signs was the deep red and gold of the fire nation.
"That's not right." Feng, our main character, muttered. "What could have happened in the three week's it took me to get here? The last I heard the fire nation was still trying to lick their wounds after the spanking the Avatar gave them at the Norther Water Tribe."
Feng tilted his head back as he looked towards the summit of the City, seeing the signs of construction on the massive statue that was clearly meant to be the fire lord.
"Something that big must have taken at least a month to construct. Did Ozai split up his forces or something?"
Regardless, Feng was not going to get his answers here, so with a sigh he hefted his backpack, raising his hood up and over his hair as he looked for a way in. Normally, he would have just used the front entrance like he had a little over a year earlier, but that wasn't currently an option, not with the station of fire nation guards he could see by the gate.
He couldn't exactly sneak past them either as the long walkway leading up to the gate made that all but impossible.
"Can't take that entrance, but I can't just leave either." Feng grimaced, feeling just how light his bag was. The past few weeks had not been kind to his food supplies, as while he was fine for water, he was down to just a few dried rations of meat, something he would only use when all other options failed.
"That leaves me with finding another entrance." Unfortunately for him, there was a reason Omashu had resisted being taken up until now, the city was a veritable fortress second only to the capital city of Ba Sing Se in the Earth Kingdom.
"From experience, I know that there are no side gates, so that's not going to work. Since it is a city there are probably waste pipes somewhere, but I'd rather go through the front then use one of them."
Even if it would be bloody.
"So that just leaves going over unless I want to make a scene."
Feng looked at the height of the wall he would have to scale. Right about now he wished he could make a scene, but discretion was the better part of valour and all that, or at least that's what his dad had used to say.
Whatever valour was.
Sighing, Feng moved back behind the top of the dune he was using for cover, moving away from the edge to be fully out of sight. Randomly deciding to go left, Feng spent 10 minutes just jogging around the circumference of the city, moving to a place he could use as an entry point.
Now, just keep in mind that while jogging was mentioned, this is the jogging of a mediocre airbender who was using his power to speed through the distance, so in those 10 minuets he managed to cover a lot of ground.
Coming to a halt around a quarter of the way around the city, Feng took a minute to regain his breath, having worked up a sweat over the journey.
"To no one's surprise, I'm still shit at the wind run." Feng grumbled, brushing off some of the sand he had picked up as he traversed the dunes. The technique he was referring to was off course one of the staples of basic airbending, or at least that was what the damaged scroll he had managed to find had said.
And when he said basic abilities, he meant that it's learned early on. To be honest, most airbending moves are learned early on as it is quite difficult to do anything dangerous when pushing around what amount to a stiff breeze, not at the level beginners could use.
But at least even with his mediocre abilities at the ability, what with no teacher, it had gotten him where he needed to go.
Staring up at a massive wall.
"You think you're so tough? You're just a stupid wall. A stupid, lifeless…massive…enormous wall. One that's hardened by earth bender to be all but unassailable. One that I have to somehow get over unless I want to travel up a sewage pipe."
Feng stood there as he thought of his options, weighing them up. Would going through the sewer really be that bad? It was just a little water with some contaminants inside it, he can use his airbending to divert the flow around him.
As soon as thought crossed his mind however, Feng's hand flung out as he smacked himself in the face, the sound echoing across the dunes.
"Gah!" Feng grunted, rubbing his now reddened check, now regretting the action. "Mama didn't raise no quitter, now then, not now. No, I'm going conquer this stupid wall, and laugh about it as I stand on top of it, having conquered my foe."
A determined expression appeared on Feng's face, his eyes and brow set as he started to take a few deep breaths, readying himself for what he was about to do, his mind fully concentrated on the task. The small part of his mind not focused on the task however figured that even if he did fall, he'd be able to create an air cushion to soften his fall, another basic airbender ability, one that was actually one of the first you had to learn.
After all, Airbender's could jump to extreme heights as they honed their abilities, and unless they softened the impact, their legs would snap. As the invasion 100 years ago showed, they are not invincible.
"Now!" Feng yelled, throwing himself forward as he drove his feet into the sand, air blowing out of his hands and feet as he picked up speed, moving faster and faster as the slope began to tilt upwards, the mountain the city was built on the cause of it.
Air swirled chaotically as it left his tall body, creating eddies when it was no longer under Feng's control as a bender, it's purpose pushing him forward as fast as he could until shortly before he reached Omashu's walls, Feng reached his max speed.
It was an impressive max speed too, as while his endurance with the wind run was awful, that was mainly because he never used it in that way. No, in the years he used the technique he'd always used it in short busts, meaning that while his wind run was bad, his wind sprint, was pretty close to the level of an expert.
The only reason he didn't assume he had mastered it was because he had never managed to run across water, something actual masters of the technique were said to be able to do for short distances.
Looking up at the wall, it's height filling the entirety of his vision, Feng did not feel fear or nervous, no, he felt excited, ready for the challenge it posed. Taking one final step, Feng brought his feet together as he crouched down, flexing his knees as he paused momentarily before shooting upwards, using the combined power of his legs, the momentum he had built up, and some air blasts he had created from his feet to soar through the sky, a cloud of sand following him as he mover ever upwards, his cloak flapping in the wind.
At first, it looked like Feng would manage to clear the wall's height, it's edge coming closer and closer as triumph began to sing in his heart. Before it could set in too deeply however, Feng began to slow, his speed dropping rapidly under the force of the air he was moving through.
"No…come one…you've almost got it." Feng muttered as he slowed, the edge of the wall literal only a few body lengths away, his momentous leap having gotten him 95% of the way there.
Feng stopped moving, his hand way to far to grab on as he floated for a second. Unfortunately for him, 95% was not enough for his purposes. Now, some may suggest that if he just had a knife or something, he could stab the wall, hanging off of it before using another to slowly climb the last little bit, and that would normally work.
But as previously mentioned, these was an earthbender-hardened walls, and some measly little knife would not be able to pierce it, not in a way that would leave it wedged in enough to support any weight.
So, with regret pooling in his heart, Feng began to start his journey downwards, the cruel mistress that was gravity exerting her toll on him before his brain began to work again, and with a swift motion Feng drew out something that was not a pair of knives that would be useless.
A pair of black war fans, however? Now the just might be useful.
Unfurling them, Feng took advantage of his fall to tilt backwards, now looking down headfirst as he unfurled the fans, swinging them in front of him as a massive gust of air formed, much larger than what he had used previously to support his leap.
"Woah!" Feng yelled in surprise, the rapid change in direction disabling his coordination for a second as he flipped through the air in an almost uncontrolled fashion, only regaining his equilibrium after a couple of flips.
Ever so softly, Feng's feet touched down on a solid surface, his knee's buckling slightly in surprise.
A couple of flips that had apparently let him make it the rest of the distance, Feng blinked in thought, looking down at the war fans in his hands.
"I knew there was a reason I kept you around." Feng grinned, patting them slightly before shutting them, hiding the beautiful red cloth that created the webbing of the fan as he tucked them back into the straps attached to his pants.
"Now, where do I go from here?" Feng said in wonder, looking down at the still sleepy town before him, having selected the dawn of the new day as his time of approach.
Feng's gaze wondered as he considered his options. First, their was the clearly fire-nation affiliated guardroom located over by the main entrance, undoubtedly stocked with both delicious, delicious information, and inconvenient guards.
Feng's gaze moved onwards.
Secondly, there was the former place of King Bumi, the obvious location any new leadership would set up in, a theory proven by the royal insignia hanging on the palaces wall's, its size large enough that even at such a distance Feng could easily make it out.
Thirdly however, was the most intriguing option, as just after turning his gaze from the palace, the still in construction stature drew his eye, and the metal coffin that was hanging from a crane right beside it.
"…Well, what do we have here?" Feng smirked as he locked in his choice, leaping off the wall as his hands latched onto the edges of his cloak and holding them open, letting him glide through the morning air as quietly as a bird, no citizen of Omashu the wiser.
….
Carefully keeping the guards surrounding the statue unaware of his presence, Feng creeped along the scaffolding, occasionally leaping an unnatural height in his ascent to his target before finally, he made it to the crane, walking up it with the confidence only someone without the need to fear heights could.
About three-quarters of the way up, Feng paused, now eye level with the coffin, and the elderly face of the cities' king inside of it. A king that was currently snoring his head off with the occasional grumble mixed in.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" Feng asked softly, trying to draw the kings' attention. Bumi did not respond, so Feng tried a little harder, raising his voice some.
"Hey! King Bumi! Can you please wake up!?"
Hearing a rustle from down below, Feng ducked down, hugging the metal frame of the crane as he stared at the guards below, worried that someone had heard him. Luckily, it seems like it wasn't his doing, but was instead just the changing of the guards, four slightly less tired guards replacing the very tired ones.
"Phew." Feng sighed in relief, looking back at Bumi to see if he could see any signs of consciousness. Unless you counted a bumble of snot changing in size in time to the King's breaths however, there was nothing.
"Well, time for Plan B I guess." Feng shrugged, snaking a hand into his backpack to retrieve a few random river stones he had picked up in his journey.
The first thrown stone lightly impacting the kings face and seemed to do nothing, which was actually reasonable considering he was a powerful earthbender, little stones like that would even phase him.
"Have to put a bit of force behind this one I think." Feng muttered, tossing the stone up and down a couple times to get the weight of it before coking his arm back, throwing it forward with a flourish. Just as he released the stone, his final finger created a mini airblast, propelling the stone at high speed.
"Gah! What's that!" Bumi yelped in surprise, shaking his head a little due to the impact as his eye's darted around, one of them bigger than the other. It didn't take him long to find the cause of his disturbance.
"Oh, hello there. Did you need something?" Bumi asked cheerfully, not even acknowledging his situation.
"…do you?"
"Nah.' Bumi snorted with a grin. "I'm just hanging around."
Silence.
"Get it? Hanging…around?" Bumi chuckled and snorted, clearly amused with himself even if Feng was not.
"Oh, I got it, but I chose to ignore it due to the sheer stupidity of the joke.
"Bah!" Bumi grunted. "You don't have a sense of humour."
"No, I do." Feng denied. "But I only laugh at things that are actually funny. You know, kind of like suspending the old king in front of the new rulers statue. Now that is funny."
Bumi paused in surprise for a second before his grin widened.
"It is funny, isn't it? But you still didn't answer my earlier question, why did you wake me up with a bending enhanced stone?"
Feng felt a moment of embarrassment at being called out. Apparently Bumi wasn't as absentminded as he looked and was observant on top of that too.
"Well…yes, I did need something, but before then, I have to ask…how did the city of Omashu get taken? Last time I was here it was almost unimaginable to imagine it being taken, one of the last two bastions of the earth kingdom. I'd thought any sought of assault would have resulted in wanton destruction included and up to a massive landslide as a final bit of resistance against the fire nation's army, denying them the city."
Feng tilted his head, seeing no signs of battle at all. The only things different than the last time he was here was clearly the additions the fire nation was adding to the city, but all the original earth kingdom buildings looked unharmed.
"Instead, I see a city that looks like it was taken without a fight, so if you could tell me what happened that would be appreciated."
"Hmm…" Bumi murmured, staring deeply into Feng's eyes. "Okay!" he said brightly, his expression changing at the flip of the hat.
"It does look like it was taken without a fight, doesn't it? That's because it was. One day the fire nation army just rocked up to our door's and they were like 'let me in.' Of course, I said no, and they replied with 'please.'"
Bumi's grin turned mad.
"Since they were so polite, I couldn't help but say 'yes come on in!', and thus the tale of Omashu's siege is over. Nice and snappy, am I right?"
Ignoring the king's ramblings, Feng thought over the words he had just heard. Omashu, one of the three cities of the four nations yet to fall…was surrendered without a fight? But why?
A pensive look appeared on Feng's face as he purposed his lips, looking at the aged king before he swept his gaze over the city below, watching the first signs of people emerging from their slumber, primarily earth kingdom people.
Sure, there were some fire-nation guards scattered around, but for the most part…people just got about their day. Merchants began to set up their shops, scribes holding leaf's of paper scribbled down notes, and children ran around to play.
The realisation didn't take long to come after this. Comparing it to the last time he had been here, for the people…nothing had changed. Maybe they were a touch more restricted than before, but their overall quality of life was unchanged.
If you compared that to what would have happened if Bumi hadn't surrendered…this was the better option. There are casualties in any battle, so the earth kingdom soldiers that would have died didn't, and the fire nation was more lenient on the population because they hadn't needed to shed blood to take the city.
And that's if they'd even needed to fight, as Feng could think of a number of other way's the fire nation could have won. Omashu was a mountain city located at the edge of the desert. They didn't have any sources of food inside the city, and water would have to be limited.
At the end of the day, with such a large army surrounding them, they only outcome was that Omashu would have fallen…so Bumi's choice was about what would be the best outcome.
"Bumi…" Feng began, interrupting the man.
"Hmm?"
"Surrendering was you're only option…wasn't it?" Feng asked softly, seeing just a hint of pain in the man's eyes. "You were never going to win, so you decided to do what was best for your citizens…even at the cost of yourself. You saved them from the bloodshed and starvation that a drawn-out siege would have created."
Understanding dawned in the kings eyes as he nodded, sighing briefly. "Yes, my young friend, I did. It's as you said, it was my only choice. But you are mistaken about one thing, I didn't surrender…I'm biding my time."
"Ahh…" Feng uttered, his mind going to work. No battle meant more available soldiers for the earth kingdom. It also meant that the Fire nation would let down their guard at such a peaceful takeover. Hell, Feng could imagine their was still resistance groups scattered around the city.
"The third jing."
"Oh, you've heard of that have you?" Bumi said, sounding amused. "Yes, I am employing the third jing…for now. And now you know just how the city was taken, so would you do me the service as to why you awoke me from my slumber?"
Bumi cocked an eyebrow.
"I was having such a nice dream about rock candy too, so I hope you have a good reason for it." Even imprisoned as he was, Bumi gave off such am intimidating air that Feng swallowed slighting, hoping that his reason was good enough, as apparentely the king was quite fond of rock candy.
"Well, it will require a bit of explanation." Feng hedged, trying to delay.
"So? I've got nothing but time, I could use some entertainment." Bumi shrugged, even if the only visible movement Feng could see was a slight bob of the man's head.
Feng supposed that was true.
"Well, I'll start by saying that this isn't my first time to Omashu as I usually stop my for rations as it's on my supply route, but I came here with a secondary purpose this time, even if I do need to stock up on supplies. You see, it was only a short month ago or so that I heard news of something of great importance to me."
Bumi's face showed interest.
"In that bar in a little town in the north of the earth kingdom…I heard news that the Avatar had returned."
Bumi's face remained unchanged, but his eye's turned just a touch more serious.
"Naturally I was quite surprised as I'd long since become convinced that the Avatar had died without reincarnated again, so when I heard of the Avatar I was quite interested, asking some questions to gather more information, as at first I'd assumed they would be either a citizen of the Northern water tribe or the Earth Kingdom…but then I heard that it was the same Avatar as the one that had disappeared 100 years ago, a young boy who was a master airbender."
"Yes, I was quite surprised when Aang turned up as well." Bumi agreed with a nod, still looking suspiciously at Feng.
Feng noted in his mind that Bumi was on a first name basis with the Avatar. Good, that meant his knowledge of the king being a past friend was correct.
"But that still doesn't explain why you came here."
"I was getting there, give me a second." Feng sighed, staring at the king until he settled down. "Now, going back to my story, I'd heard of Avatar Aang and was instantly strike with the desire to meet him. He…is something I have been searching for a very long time now."
"Hmm?"
"Another piece of information I managed to gather was that the Avatar was sighted in this city a short time ago, something I heard from some cabbage merchant complaining about him. In his rambles, he also let slip something I thought was interesting…the fact the Omashu's king, you, were an old friend of the Avatar's."
Bumi grinned at the mention of the Cabbage merchant. Destroying his produce was always such fun.
"I'm not the only one after the Avatar, even if I have a different purpose for wanting to meet him, so I realised he'd have to travel around a lot, but that kind of travel requires money, supplies…something a young boy would not have. But if this boy had an old friend…a rich friend, I can see them supporting the Avatar. And who is richer than the king of one of the four nation's wealthiest cities?"
"True." Bumi said without hesitance before sighing. "Well, it was true, not any more I'm afraid."
Feng looked at the wrought iron fixed around the king. Yes, he supposed it wouldn't be.
"So, my thinking was that if anyone would know how to find the Avatar, it would be you, which is why I travelled here. Yes, you being imprisoned like this wasn't something I'd considered, but it works just as well. If the stories about the Avatar I've heard are true, I know he can't resist helping the people around him. And old friend like you? I can see him coming running."
"Mm," Bumi nodded, "that is a very real possibility, in fact, I think you might be in luck, because if my thoughts are right which…" Bumi paused, considering his thoughts. "…okay, they might not be correct, I've been baked under the sun for ages now, but I've had little else to do other than think. Anyway, if I'm right, Aang should arrive here later today, which is strangely good timing for you. Almost like a spirit had intervened on your behalf."
Well, he was half right.
"So, I know you want to meet Aang, and I know you travelled a long way to do just that, but you've never said why you've searched for someone like him for such a long time. Care to share, or do I have to shout for the guards?" Bumi grinned, his eyes shining with the unspoken threat.
A good one too, as four more guards had shown up with the sun fully risen now and sneaking around was a lot harder in the day.
Sighing, Feng supposed it couldn't hurt. Bumi couldn't be further opposed to the fire nation if he tried, so it's not like he would be the one that would eventually let the secret out.
Raising a hand, Feng waved it through the air with grace, pushing the air back and fourth with just his hand before it was almost like he was holding a fan, the amount of air being move too much for just his palm, before finally Feng thrust his hand forward, creating a moderately powerful blast of air that blew Bumi's hair back making the coffin rock slighting.
"An airbender…" Bumi trailed off with a hint of awe, now seeming completely sane. "Yep, that would do it." He nodded, his mad grin back on his face. Never mind.
"Well, I can see why you would want to meet Aang now, and I have no problems with that. He'll be ecstatic to meet another airbender, one not killed in the purges."
Both of the pair lowered their heads in respect for the lost nomad lives. Feng because he'd always wanted to meet them, and Bumi because he could actually remember them.
"So just follow me from a distance today, staying out of sight. If I'm right, Aang will try to free me today by cutting the chain, causing me to run down the chutes. Keep up, and don't show up until I give my signal, you'll ruin the surprise."
"…ok." Feng agreed with a sigh. The important things is that Bumi would be introducing him to Aang, so he guessed he could play along with his games.
