Not much to say this time…I saw last Friday's Avatar…and I have no clue what to think of the new girl. (Anyone catch her name?) I think it's fifty percent admiring her coolness and skill, and fifty percent loathing her. (I have no reason for this…I just think she and Zuko might end up together…and that brings me great sadness.)

Now,

This is a tale of honor, courage, and loyalty -the things that moved nations- where love falls back and the warrior codes of the time take the stage. More than one hundred years after the Fire Nation went to war against the Middle Kingdom and the other nations, and just more than two after the honorable Prince Zuko was exiled, a woman of honor -driven by honor, with honor as the promised reward- and rank searches the world over for the one thing that can restore her land to what it is meant to be.

End with Honor

3. The Art of Deception Part II

Ming-Na looked shocked herself. It was as if a ghost from her past had come back. Wei-Fei was someone she hoped never to see again, yet here he was. And…if word got out about her past…all would be ruined. "Wei…Fei…" She said, awkwardly. What could she say that would not bring about the questioning she feared.

"Ming-Na, you know this guy?" Katara asked in a puzzled manner. Just as Ming-Na feared, it had already begun. Now was the day that had come before only in her darkest nightmares.

"I'm Wei-Fei." He said. "And, as to how Ming-Na knows me…" at this he hesitated. With good reason too, seeing as Ming-Na could become very volatile in an instant. He looked to Ming-Na for the okay, but she didn't give it.

Inside, Ming-Na was thinking fast, trying to come up with some explanation that would keep her secrets safe. Then it hit her. It was daring, and –for once- required her to rely, even if just partially, on someone other than herself. So she inwardly composed herself, and spoke.

"Wei-Fei is the prince of the Earth Kingdom. He led the defense at Nageshika." She said simply.

"Ming-Na…?" Wei-Fei half-asked.

Katara looked from one to the other, then her eyes settled on Ming-Na. In them was a look of pity that could not help but make Ming-Na's blood boil.

Oh! Ming-Na thought. How dare she look upon me with pity! I only wish I could just stab those eyes of hers out! But of course, she couldn't. Not if she wanted to complete her mission. But…once the time came, she would be able to do that, and much more. If she got through this test –and of course, the many after it- then all her sweat would turn into the blood of her enemies, her tears would been seen on the faces of those who opposed the Fire Nation, and all her sleepless nights –more than could ever be counted- would become those of the Avatar…knowing she was out there, somewhere in the dark, hunting him down.

Wei-Fei looked confused; then caught the look Ming-Na was sending him. 'Please…" it said. "Help me!" Then his face softened into a look of understanding; but in the blink of an eye he joined her in her act. He looked away from Katara, trying his best to look ashamed. But since he hadn't gone through all the training Ming-Na had, it came out rather like he was constipated.

Inwardly cursing Wei-Fei's stupidity, Ming-Na tried her best to draw attention back to herself. "Katara," she said. "You don't have to put yourself through all this. It's my own business, and besides, I'm…I'm past all that now."

"Ah…" Katara said awkwardly. She looked more than happy to continue searching for the needed supplies. As Katara walked into the distance, Ming-Na turned to Wei-Fei, a look of scorn in her face.

"Come, Wei-Fei. We need to talk." She said curtly.

She led Wei-Fei out of the market to a part of the city few came to. Dirty and cramped, it was one of those places no one went unarmed. When they had, in Ming-Na's expert opinion, reached a place where nobody could listen in -alley in a part of the slum that looked like a place not even the homeless dared go- she spun him around and slammed him up against a building's wall, a jagged, wicked-looking dagger to his throat.

"Wei-Fei Li…" she said in a dangerous whisper, "do you know how close you just came to ruining the one thing I have worked for years to obtain!"

Wei-Fei shook his head. Of course he didn't know. In the time they had known each other, Ming-Na had never talked about such things. But the time had come to let him in on it--and the way she saw it, he could either help her, or die.

"Wei-Fei," she said in a business-like tone which sounded strange after the threatening whispers she had previously spoken in, "for all the time we knew each other, I never told you why I was so far from my home, right?"

"Yeah," Wei-Fei said; relaxing. The dagger was still inches from his jugular vein, but he knew he was not in any danger now. Six months of living with Ming-Na and her mercurial moods had taught him that the real danger was when she looked upon you with eyes expressing, in terrifying eloquence, that there would be no greater pleasure for her than totally annihilating your existence. The dagger was just one of her many accessories.

"I knew everything else; from who you were, to what you are now, and everything in between…except why you chose to be so far from all that you loved. I hope you will tell me now."

Ming-Na sighed. Wei-Fei was as prying as ever. Half the reason why he knew all he knew was because he had used the same sharp questioning as he was now. Wei-Fei was intelligent; no doubt about it, but the real threat was in his subtle ability to read people. His superior psychological knowledge, combined with a keen eye for the details, gave him an almost preternatural ability to know the thoughts, feelings, and pasts behind any action. In that aspect, Ming-Na thought, Wei was perfection.

But now it made no difference, for she would tell him all of it anyway.

"Two years ago," Ming-Na began, telling the story that had shaped all of her following life. "My betrothed, the honorable Prince Zuko…"

At this, Wei-Fei stiffened. For, being from the Earth Kingdom, he carried a deep hatred for the prince of the Fire Nation.

"…was exiled. That day –the day of my wedding, in fact- as I waited for the Agni Kai my future husband was fighting to end, I was told by my thrice-damned mother, the accursed Hyo-Lee, that Zuko had refused to fight; had been cast out, honorless and disgraced, from his beloved nation. It was at this moment -while the shock of the fact that one I knew to be more honorable than many had been exiled slowly filled my body; where I realized that the place I had called my home for twelve long years had at last betrayed me; when I knew I had nothing left for me there- that I realized what it was that I must do. It was more something personal than instinct, something more profound than obligation; it was my sacred duty to hunt down, capture, or if need be…kill the Avatar."

At this, Wei-Fei recoiled in shock. He knew Ming-Na was ruthless, hardened, some might even consider her evil, but he never would have thought that she would be set against the one person who could save their world.

"And now, Wei, I must ask you to make a choice." Ming-Na said, looking right into his eyes with her own fearless ones. "Will you help me to capture the Avatar and restore our honor? Or will you stand against me and die…?"

"The real choice, Ming-chan, is whether you die!" Standing at the mouth of the alleyway was Chen. Of all the men and women who followed Wei-Fei, she was his fiercest warrior, strongest supporter, and second in command. Her loyalty to the Earth Kingdom's leader was unwavering, not to be swayed by anything, and she had proven more than once that her own death was insignificant compared to that of her mission's or Wei-Fei's. And now, it seemed, Ming-Na would be the one to feel her wrath.

"Don't you ever call me that!" Ming-Na said in an icy voice filled with venom and malice. No one but Zuko called her Ming. For this, Chen would pay… "And, somehow, I don't think I'm going to be the one to die."

"Is that so? Well, I must say Ming, I admire your confidence, truly I do, but I'm not the one you should worry about, for while you may be a match for me, you are no match for them!" As she said this, fifty Earth Kingdom warriors surrounded Ming-Na, weapons drawn.

Ming-Na laughed. "I do not fear them, Chen. I laugh at danger."

"You laugh at death!" Chen shot back.

"That may be, but I do not fear it. I have been prepared to die since I left my home. You will not understand, but I gave it all up that day. My home, which I have not seen in years, my friends, who have by now all but forgotten me, my ability to firebend, which they took from me before I left, and even my honor, which now lies in shreds around me. I know I will never be able to go back to the way things were before, and knowing this, I give up my life. Mingeline doesn't exits anymore; those days are long past. And as soon as Zuko is returned to where he should be, Ming-Na will be gone too. So come, and witness of fury of one with nothing to lose!"

Chen looked dismayed at Ming-Na's flaunting of her own situation. Nothing to lose…It was true. There was no fear in her eyes. Ming-Na stared death in the face and laughed. And it was this that touched Wei-Fei's heart.

"Stop, Chen." He said wearily. "She means no harm."

"Yes I do!" Ming-Na spat.

"No you don't; not in your heart. And even though you do not fear death, I fear yours. It will be a sad day when someone like you leaves this world. And if you fight now, that day will be today. You are not ready for battle."

"I am skilled –far more skilled than these barbarians- with the blade. I have trained for years! How could I not be ready?" Her eyes blazed in anger at being told that --after years of her intensive training- she was not strong enough to fight. Men! She though. Always thinking that we women are nothing but helpless! Well, she would prove him wrong.

"Training in theory is a far cry from fighting in battle. I repeat--Ming-Na, you are not ready for this!" Wei-Fei could see the anger in her eyes; the indignation of youth. After fighting in a bloody war for most of his life –ever since he was nine, to be exact- he knew more than anyone else what something like that could do to a person. He did not want Ming-Na to end up a hollow soul like so many others. She was too special to be lost that way.

"Then you fight me, Wei. And if I win, you will agree to help me--unconditionally."

"Wei-Fei, you can't!" Chen said in an anguished voice. "I won't let you get coerced into helping the enemy!"

"Quiet, Chen." Wei-Fei snapped back, harder than he meant to. But she really did need to learn her place. "Agreed," he said to Ming-Na. "But if I win, you will return with me to Ba Sing Sei, and you will agree to keep yourself out of the way of the war. You will return on our side of the war, Ming-Na, and you will learn to like it." He didn't like it, but it would be the only way. Ming-Na would honor her deal if it came down to a fight. And since Wei had three more years of experience than she did, victory would be relatively easy.

Ming-Na's jaw clenched at the thought of aiding the Earth Kingdom. No, even worse, of sitting back behind their lines and doing nothing. Nothing for Zuko, and nothing for her nation. It would be more than dishonorable…it would be treason! But there was no way she would lose. Not here, not now, and not to Wei-Fei. "Fine…" she said between clenched teeth, the sound hissing out venomously. Take that anger… she recalled her father's voice from one of their lessons. And make it into a blade than none can stop. Harness that bitterness, that sense of injustice, and use it to strike!

Having only brought the small dagger and Chigiri, her trusty katana, with her, she resorted to a rather crude form of kenjutsu called Chi-ch'an. –the, literally, 'small-large' style- Her katana was held in her right hand with the cutting side down, while her aforementioned dagger lay in her left.

"Come at me, Wei!" she said in a voice that allowed no room for protest.

Wei-Fei, to be fair, had also resorted to using just weapons, –he was a gentleman, after all- only his wasn't edged. Held in his two hands was a wooden Bo staff. With a metal core, it could not be cut in half, as he knew Ming-Na's first instinct would be.

With a shout, he leapt toward her, twirling the staff above his head like the blades of a helicopter, until he brought it crashing forward at Ming-Na's head as he landed.

She met his attack with a parry of her own from Chigiri. Then she whipped her little dagger around, aiming for the small of his back.

Wei-Fei disengaged just in time--pulling back and narrowly missing Ming-Na's dagger. They back away from each other and began to circle; the warriors forming a ring around the two combatants.

Ming-Na sneered, causing her face to twist into an ugly mask of pure, undiluted fury. She clearly outclassed him, yet he continued in their pointless battle. And the nerve of that little bet of his…would her really take all that was precious away from her, even after she had told him the story of her whole life? Would he be so cruel as to make her watch her nation suffer, until the end of her days? Apparently, yes; so she did what her father had told her to, and fed every ounce of anger and loathing into her blows while parrying his with a ferocity that he had never seen. Now he understood why no one made Ming-Na of the Fire Nation mad.

"Is that all you have!" She asked him in a voice that hardly seemed human. The thrill of battle was coursing through her veins, and right now…she felt invincible.

Wei-Fei, on the other hand, was as cold as ice. Unlike his opponent, he could not afford to get caught up in the intimacy of the fight, for he needed to win--but not with a death to prove it. The Bo -while it might not have looked it on the outside- was strong enough to break ribs, and with enough force behind it, it could behead the person on the receiving end--and not cleanly. So while Ming-Na burned with passion, Wei-Fei was filled with a cold dread.

This time, she struck; bringing her katana around in a backwards arc, swinging toward Wei-Fei's chest. He brought up his staff vertically, just barely stopping Ming-Na's attack, although the blade bit through to the metal core.

Ming-Na jerked hard on the hilt of her sword, trying to pull it free from the wood of Wei-Fei's staff, but it was embedded too deeply. In other words--it was stuck, and not coming out any time soon.

Wei-Fei took the opportunity, ripping the katana out of Ming-Na's hands with a sharp tug on his staff, sending it sailing up into the air to land harmlessly on a rooftop.

Ming-Na's face twisted in shock as her eyes grew wide with fear and anger. "You--" was all she could get out before her throat closed. There was no way she could win with a single dagger.

"Please, Ming-Na, give up!" Wei-Fei pleaded. This fight was getting serious, and who knew what she would do if he got the upper hand. After all, the whole Fire Nation –it seemed- was bound by a horrible code of 'honor'. Killing yourself was not honorable, killing others was not honorable, killing everyone was not honorable, yet it seemed like law to them. That was why he was trying to take his beloved Ming-Na away from them.

Ming-Na with only one small dagger was in no position to fight back. She was trapped with no way out. She needed to win but could find no way. So she did what any one of her peers would do, she fought on: "Never!" she declared passionately. "I will never side with you!"

But this was the moment her opponent had been waiting for. Her guard was dropped, her attention resting in her own thoughts; and then, she felt the cold, wooden end of his staff resting against her neck. "Too bad for you, you don't have a choice." Wei-Fei, the victor, said coldly.

Ming-Na felt something cold and sharp enter her chest. It was akin to shock but stronger than steel; sharper than pain but harder to heal. It was the resounding fact that the next days of the rest of her life would be spent watching the war on the side of her enemies. That she would 'learn to like' a life of peace--no, not peace; a life just like the one she had been trying to escape all those years ago in the Fire Nation. She just knew it would be that way. She could see the promise of those days in Wei-Fei's eyes.

She let her head hang in shame; let her hair hide her empty face; let her body sink to the ground…all the while feeling the cool wood like an icy fever on the spot of her neck it had touched.

She. Was. Dishonorable.

She. Lost.

She. Would. Spend. Her. Life. Like. This.

Then, quicker than the eye could see, she had her honor blade out and level as she stood up. Saying in a calm, measured, even voice –that still managed to seem very fragile- "You…or me?"

Wei looked at her blankly.

Ignorant fool! Ming-Na thought bitterly. When someone held a weapon –particularly that weapon- and asked 'you or me', it was simple to understand. Or maybe dear little Wei didn't think she could go that far. Well she could, and she would.

"This weapon is called an honor blade," she said as if teaching a kenjutsu class. "It is forged from a crystal substance just strong enough to hold together being drawn and sheathed, but still weak, so that after a stab or mortal cut, it will break."

She could see Wei-Fei's brain asking why this mattered. Well, he'd find out soon enough.

"Only a chosen few…the highest and most honorable…are bequeathed this weapon. And there is a reason: this blade is to be used as a last resort; to regain your honor by death…or in death."

She would savor the shock and disgust in Wei's expression even after death. It was just so utterly like him to not understand one of her nation's oldest and most sacred rituals. It showed that even if he had beaten her, she still had the upper hand. Knowing this time her line would be oh, so much more potent, she said again, "Now, you…or me?"

And there it was again. That wonderful look of his. The look that told her in an instant that he would never, ever, be her equal. He may have won in an act of her foolishness, but in the end she was the only one with any honor left.

"Ming-Na, this is foolishness! Put that thing away now!" He ordered.

"I take no orders from you." She shot back cruelly. "Even now, Wei dear, you are weak. You may have held your stick to my throat, but that was not a victory. You may have had your little gloat over my defeat, but it was watered down by pity. Pity for the enemy, Wei. And you may have your morals and your righteousness, but I have my honor, and that is far above anything you pathetically cling to. You are not my equal, Wei-Fei, and you will never be unless you start acting like a man. Now, answer the question!"

Wei-Fei looked at her, regarding her with measured eyes. Cool and calculating--this was the Wei-Fei Li she liked, not the weak boy whom she had had the displeasure to fight with. And then, his next words took her breath away. "Coward." He said, flatly. He wasn't expressing an opinion in that voice; he was stating a fact.

"What did you say?" Ming-Na said in the icy, dangerous whisper that she used when someone pushed her too far. She stepped close to Wei-Fei, honor blade held in an attack position. "What did you just say?"

"I said you're a coward, oh Lady Mingeline." He said. "You are weak. You are pitiful. You are…dishonorable."

If Ming-Na still had her firebending powers, there would've been a large mass of flame surrounding her right about now. As it was, she still looked like she would kill Wei-Fei with her emotions alone. Her eyes blazed with something beyond fury. There were no words that could describe what she was feeling. Only an emotion that linked to her from the generation of warriors she had been born under.

"You would rather run and hide in death than face for another second that someone beat you, Ming-Na. You would rather kill me, the only one who could help you, than live with the…what was the word you would use…shame of losing. Don't act like a spoiled princess Mingeline. Act like a warrior and face the fact that you lost. Isn't that part of your code…courage? Or is that just the premise you hide under, because from where I'm standing you're everything but a warrior."

"How dare you lecture me, Wei-Fei!" She shouted. It was rage, pure, unfiltered, uncontrollable rage. She had lost all common sense; all conditioning; all reason. She was an animal.

"You're still hiding, Ming-Na; hiding in your anger. You need to face the truth. You lost, but who gives a damn. Not me, not my men, not Chen. The only people who care about that stupid filthy 'code' of yours are the people you hate. Why let them control you! Be yourself for once! And stop acting like someone's dog."

She came at him, honor blade ready, but he brought his staff up and blocked the attack with no more trouble than it would take to swat away a fly. The crystal blade broke. "And stop acting so useless. It's unbecoming."

To be continued…