Kishi: Don't ask me how I managed to write this thing in the middle of a summer stint as a door-to-door salesman. I just don't know.

---

Kara-no

Chapter 2:

Journey to the West

---

The cold metal of the cell offered little in the way of comfort. The walls creaked with the pounding of the waves, reverberating and groaning with the force brought to bear.

The three peasants sprawled on the floor. Their cell had no cots, only four solid walls and a hatch, with small opening for the bowls of rice that had been their meal.

All three of them were silent, until the ringleader sighed, stretched, stood, and said, "I think we've waited long enough."

"D'you think the boat's ready?" asked the second one, a wiry man with long lanky hair.

"Who knows?" asked the first. "We can steal Zuko's boat if worse comes to worse."

"Yep," said the last. He was tubbier than the others, plonked down in front of the cell door like an immovable boulder. But he snapped himself to attention none the less.

"All right, then," said the leader. "Let's move out."

---

The storm in the mountains had abated for only a moment, but that had been enough time for Appa to get into the air. Now they flew north, the sun off to the right, casting its glow over the cottony down of the sky. There was an almost solid mass of the stuff below, but there were wisps and clumps everywhere above, so it was not altogether unbearable.

Shin sat in the corner, his walking stick propped against his shoulder. His eyes were once again distant, peering out into the wild blue yonder, his thoughts unknown and unvoiced. Aang reclined at the front, laying back at his ease, pulling some tricks with the marble. Katara sat midway in the basket, staring intently at the scroll, her eyes scanning rapidly and her hands twitching, eager to use the techniques contained.

"So… hungry," groused Sokka. He lay curled up in a ball, staring at the baskets – recently emptied.

"Don't worry," said Aang from the front. "We'll set down soon enough. We'll be able to find supplies then."

"That's great, Aang," said Sokka. "That's great, that's really… yeah, fine. Thing is, until then, I'm still hungry!"

"Then think about something else," said Shin. He turned his head, but that was the only indication that he was actually looking at the young soldier.

"Like what?" Sokka snapped.

"What's important to you?" the hermit replied.

"Being a good soldier is a big deal," said Sokka. "Beating Zuko's a pretty big deal. Getting food is there too."

"Concentrate on the first two."

"Why not the third?"

"You're doing that right now and you're utterly miserable. Focus on the other two to the point that nothing else is in your mind except being a god soldier, and beating Prince Zuko."

"How does that help?" asked Sokka.

"Because the more you concentrate on your goals, the more you align your mind with achieving them. The more you orient toward the goal, the more you try to match with it."

"Huh?"

"What he's getting at," said Aang, "is that you need to have the right kind of focus when doing something. Otherwise, it's just not possible."

"So if I just sit here and focus on being a better warrior, it'll just happen?"

"It won't hurt any."

Shin shook his head. "I just said that."

"I didn't hardly understand any of it," said Sokka. "Concentration and alignment and orientation? Why didn't you just say 'Focus'?"

"But I…" Shin sighed, shook his head. "Never mind."

They were quiet again for a while, Sokka still curled in the fetal position with his hand clenching his stomach. At least he was quiet now.

The clink of coins announced Katara's investigation of their personal monies. "Looks like we're almost out of money, guys," said Katara. "If we stop off at a town, it'll be our last town for a long time."

"It'll be okay, Katara," said Aang. "We'll figure out something. Heck, I could do tricks for money."

"Yeah, there's an idea," said Sokka. "Remember Kyoshi?"

Aang's face fell. "Oh yeah."

"Don't worry Aang," said Katara, smiling reassuringly. "It won't come to that."

Shin peered over the side. The clouds had dispersed as they traveled, showing little islands of land in a sea of peach.

"I see a town down there," said the hermit.

"Where is it?" asked Sokka, crawling over to him.

"I see it too," said Aang. There it was, a low sprawling town built on a mountain. Trees stretched around it for what looked to be miles and miles.

"A mountain town means a hot spring," said Shin.

"I hope it's free," said Katara. "Otherwise, I don't see how we'll be able to afford that and supplies."

"Don't worry, Katara," said Aang, taking his turn to smile. "We'll figure something out. Maybe there'll be a crisis to solve or something."

---

"This is impossible," said Zuko. His brow was furrowed in thought, his eyes glaring over every inch of his prisoner's cell.

A cell that was conspicuously empty of its occupants.

"So let me hear it again?" he asked, turning to the jailer.

"There's nothing to hear that you don't know already," said the burly guard. "Guards were placed at the entrance of the cell. The prisoners were still there. There was a brief point where the guards were changed, when nobody was here to stand watch. When the guards arrived, they checked all the cells. Only that one is missing prisoners."

"I see. And there's no sign of tampering with the lock?"

"No, my Prince," said the guard. "In fact, there's no sign of the lock at all."

"Oh yes, I'd forgotten about that," snarled the prince sarcastically. "The lock just disappeared into thin air, leaving the door wide open for them to leave. No tampering!" He slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a scorch mark. The guard, wisely enough, remained quiet.

The entire crew should be loyal to me, thought Zuko. There's only one other who might not be…

"Get this cell repaired," said the prince before running out of the brig.

He ran through the narrow metal passageways, past soldiers and sailors going to bed or to breakfast or to their posts, before reaching the hatch to the deck. He threw it open and sprang out, seeing his uncle standing at the bow. He seemed utterly relaxed.

"Uncle Airoh!" Zuko roared. Airoh jumped and spun around, turning to face him.

"Nephew," said Airoh, hiding a yawn, "it's too early for all this hustle and bustle and assorted commotion. What's going on?"

"We've had a prison break," said Zuko. "The three assassins are gone, and there are signs of tampering with the lock."

"That does seem to be a problem," Airoh acknowledged thoughtfully.

Zuko ground his teeth. "Have you heard anything from the guard that was stationed to keep watch on the girl's cell?"

"He kept watch on her quarters all night," said Airoh. "We even made sure he had enough Green Tea to stay up the night. She didn't do anything, and the vents are too small for her to crawl through. Besides, where would she pick up the tools to tamper with the lock?"

Zuko growled, but he had to concede the point. "All right then. I'll go lead a search of the ship. We'll find them before they can—"

"The tea you requested, General," came a quiet voice. Airoh beamed as Zuko turned around. Reiko was sitting there, dressed now in the dull red tunic and pants of a servant. Her long silvery hair was bound back in a simple ponytail, and she also wore a smile as she knelt on the deck. Before her were a teapot and two cups on a tray, as well as an envelope.

"Ginseng, I trust?" asked Airoh hopefully.

"As you requested," she replied. She poured him a cup and held it up to him, which Airoh accepted with a calm grace.

"I also have a message for you, your Highness," she said to the prince. She held up the envelope to him, which he took, ripped, and scanned the contents.

"Well, we have a lifeboat missing," said Zuko finally. "That seems to answer the question of where the assassins are. I want the ship searched anyway, from top to bottom. I want to be doubly sure that they're gone."

"Your tea is ready," came her voice.

He rounded on her. "You think I'd be drinking tea at a time like this?"

"The general requested tea for two," said the servant. "I thought you'd be the other."

"I don't have time for this," snapped the prince. He turned around and stalked off.

---

It was an odd party that walked up to the gates of the Earth Kingdom town. Two were dressed as youths of the Water Tribes, but one had the low wide hat of a traveling monk, and the other looked to be a mountain man, tall and foreboding.

"Aren't we inconspicuous?"

"It was the best we could do," said Sokka. "Besides, it got us into Omashu. I'm sure that we'll get in here easily enough."

They did. They passed through the gates and began to walk the hewn streets. The buildings all had the same green sloped roofs that were trademarks of the Earth Kingdom, and all the buildings seemed to grow out of the ground as though they were natural rock. Vendors lined the streets, hawking their wares – including a jittery cabbage merchant who seemed to tremble with the slightest breeze.

"Does anybody see a public bath house?"

"I see 'em," said Aang. "But they all cost money."

Shin hummed in thought. "I wonder if—"

Suddenly, there were screams from the closest bathhouse. The group turned and stared as people came running out of the establishment. Some were clothed… and, to Katara's blushing chagrin, some were not.

Shouts erupted, trying to coax and cajole bathers to return – but to no avail. Finally, the house stood empty.

The group stared at the owner of the establishment, a short and portly woman with a long braid stretching to her mid-back. "Ai-ya!" she sighed. "The Monkey King strikes again, I see. I didn't think he could touch us though…"

Aang walked up to her. "What happened, ma'am?"

The house owner shook her head. "We were caught by the Monkey King. Our shampoos and soaps were filled with fleas, our scented oils with butter. He even made the water go cold! Cold! From a hot spring!" She sighed. "I just wish I knew how he did it."

Katara and Aang both shared a look. Shin, however, turned to the lady and said, "Is everything all right now, though?"

"Oh yes, yes, of course it is," said the woman, taking on a very businesslike air and tone. "The problem's getting customers back in. Everyone's been convinced that this is an unsanitary place."

"Perhaps a show of good faith could bring your customers back."

She snorted. "And who would dare to bathe here today? It'll be a week before anyone trusts me after something like this."

"Let me bathe here," said the hermit. "Let me get washed and groomed. That'll give you customers in a couple days."

"Would you?" she asked, her face hopeful.

"Only on one condition," said Shin. "You give me these things for free."

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, archly. "I need money to maintain this place for my customers, especially after today, and you want to bathe for free?"

"Think of it as an investment, madam," said Shin, leaning back. "You invest in a little goodwill now, to get back on your feet quicker. Think of all the money you'll save just because of one act of charity."

The owner frowned, looking at him hard, but Shin didn't change stance or posture at all. Finally she shrugged. "You've got a point," she said, grudgingly. "Come on, then, let's get this over with."

Shin nodded and turned to acknowledge the others. The light flashed across his eyes, allowing a momentary view through the tangle of his hair, and he winked at them before following the lady into the house.

"Smooth," noted Sokka.

"Good for him," said Katara. "But I'm thinking more about what that lady said. Hot spring water going cold?"

"That is pretty weird," said Aang. "Do you think it could be water bending?"

"How else could it happen?" she replied. "I think we need to find the mayor."

One of the vendors was happy to point them to the magistrate for the city, a large central building bearing no real ornamentation except for the symbol of the Kingdom.

Aang walked up to the guard standing at the doorway. "We're here to see the minister."

"Do you have an appointment?" asked the guard.

"Um… no?"

"Then you don't get to speak with the mayor. Move along." Aang started to say something else, but at this point the guard looked sternly ahead and refused to acknowledge him.

The group took a few steps back. "Now what?" grumbled Sokka.

"Hold on guys," said Aang. "I have an idea." At that moment, a group of city dwellers walked past them and up to the guard, all crowding and surrounding him. Aang nodded to himself and ran, bending the air around him to go faster, faster, until he made a leap, jumping up to one of the second floor windows and clambering in.

"Wow," said Sokka with a low whistle. "That was pretty good."

"I dunno," said Katara. "I'm beginning to wonder if maybe Shin's having some sort of influence on him."

-

"I trust everything is to your liking, Master Shin?"

"Almost," he replied. "I just don't like being referred to with the honorific is all."

"Nonsense. With all the money you're saving me, you merit at least an honorific."

"Perhaps." Shin stood and wrapped the towel around himself. The bath was classic – cypress walls, a low pool of water cut into the stone floor. He had already been groomed, his hair cut, his beard trimmed. Now to just find his clothes in the adjoining room and go to—

"Excuse me," he said, "but my clothes seem to have gone missing."

"I burned them."

Shin blanched. "Everything?"

"Everything." The owner entered the room carrying what looked to be a parcel. "I figured, as long as you were going to be my goodwill case, I should go all out."

Shin opened the parcel and found new clothes – a cotton jacket, loose pants, and a pair of sandals, all in the drab browns of a peasant.

"These all belonged to my husband before he passed away," said the owner, her voice a touch nostalgic. "I'd like you to have them now."

"No, madam, I couldn't, I—" Shin stared at her expression, then nodded. "As you wish. Thank you for the clothes."

She nodded and smiled.

-

"Excuse me. I need to see the mayor?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes I do. I just don't know where he keeps his office, you know?"

"Understandable. He's in that last door on the left."

"Thank you, sir." The traveling monk tipped his hat and walked away, coming to the last door on the left. Opening it, he saw an old man with a gray beard sitting behind a desk, dressed in the long green regalia of an Earth Kingdom official.

He looked up at the traveling monk. "Who are you? What do you want?"

The monk removed his hat. "My name is Aang. I came here to—"

"Do you have an appointment with me?"

Aang sighed. "What is it with you people and appointments?"

The mayor sniffed disdainfully. "I don't have time for your trivial concerns. If you don't have an appointment, you'll have to leave. Guards!"

"But wait! I'm the Avatar! I—"

"Rubbish!" chortled the mayor. "That's just a children's tale." The guards walked in.

"Take this fool and deposit him outside," said the mayor, bending back down over his desk. Suddenly a gust of wind blew all his paperwork off the desk, leaving also his hat askew on his head. He looked up to see the four guards sprawled out on the floor and Aang with his staff in hand. That was when the mayor took note of the arrows on the boy's head and hands.

"An Air Bender?" asked the mayor. His eyes widened. "But that could only mean…"

"Yeah," said Aang with a noncommittal shrug, "I'm the Avatar. I noticed you guys were having some trouble here in town and I thought I'd stop by. Who's the Monkey King?"

"Oh my," sighed the mayor. "Not him again. This would mark the third time he's struck."

"Who is he?"

"What is he? That's the better question," said the mayor. "Nobody ever catches a direct sight of him. All we know is that he appears, pulls a prank, and disappears. We call him Monkey King because whenever he does something, the monkeys are never far behind."

"Monkeys?"

"Yes. They always appear at or near the scene of the crime. They don't do anything strange, but their being there is enough."

"Has any of the Monkey King's pranks hurt anyone?"

"Nobody yet, fortunately. But if they keep escalating, as they tend to do, I am concerned that he will hurt many of us."

"All right then," said Aang, standing up.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to go into the forest and ask him to stop," said Aang.

The mayor looked incredulous. "That's it?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

The mayor sat back, tiredly. "Fine then. You can find him out in the western forest. Good luck."

-

"I hope I'm not too late," came a familiar voice.

Katara turned around. "No, not late at…"

"Sis?" asked Sokka. "What is i…?"

The only recognizable features of the man's face were his silvery eyes. The beard had been shaven away, leaving a firm, angular jaw line. His hair had lost all the twigs and leaves, and furthermore had been trimmed, leaving a small tail of hair to jut out over the nape of his neck. Gone were his rags, replaced with the clean simple olive-tan garments of an Earth peasant.

Sokka nudged Katara in the ribs upon noticing that she was still staring. "Sure cleans up nice, doesn't he?"

"Oh hush!" she said, albeit a little too quickly, and her cheeks blossomed with color.

"Hey guys!" came Aang's voice, soon followed by the sound of his footsteps. He stopped when he saw the guest and said, "Nice to see you again, Shin."

Shin shrugged as if it were no big thing. "So what's happened?"

Aang proceeded to fill them all in – about the Monkey King and his pranks, and the mayor's fears for his people.

"Did he mention anything about a reward?" asked Sokka hopefully.

"Sokka!" Katara snapped.

"What?" he asked with a shrug. "We need food. Maybe he'll reward us if we get rid of this Monkey King or whatever."

"Hmph! You sound just like a mercenary."

"Oh come on. You know you're just as hungry as I am."

"Regardless of whether we are rewarded or not," said Shin, "going out to the forest will at least afford us an opportunity to forage for supplies."

"And we should try to help these people out anyway," said Aang. "So let's get going already!"

---

The odds were two on one. Two with more experience, more knowledge, and the tactical advantage of numbers.

The one shook his head and snorted. As if this were something new.

A gout of flame erupted from the hands of the one on his right. He fell backwards, then stood on his hands and kicked towards the feet of the offender, sending a wave of flame. As the attacker stumbled back, Zuko replanted his feet and came up with his hands moving in Fire pattern, blocking the overhead chop of the other and sending a ball of flame into the abdomen.

"Your movements are very well performed, Prince Zuko," said Airoh. "As I have come to expect. But you still have the same problem as usual."

Zuko sighed, as though he were trying and failing to keep his temper. "How, Uncle," grated his voice, "am I to focus my breathing when I'm fighting for my life?"

"It's a simple matter of breathing in time with your movement. Inhale," said Airoh, drawing a fist to his chest. "Exhale," he said, shooting the fist out. A ball of fire burst out, roughly twice the size of the one Zuko had shot into the soldier earlier.

Zuko growled but he set his face resolutely nonetheless and stood ready as the soldiers stood back up.

"Has he always been that way?" asked Reiko quietly from her position at Airoh's feet.

Airoh sat down. "He's always had an incredible amount of focus," said the retired general. "And he's driven to be the best. But he's far too hard on himself."

"Would that have something to do with his banishment?"

"Yes," said the general, his face taking a far-off look. He had sensed that Reiko would make a good conversationalist when he realized that she was the quietest one on the ship. One always had to look out for the quiet ones. So, to get her out of her shell, he'd taken to ordering tea for two and spending a little time every day just talking to her. She'd opened up soon enough, but she still spoke seldom unless she was spoken to.

They both sat there and watched as Zuko continued running the same patterns over and over again.

"How's that, Uncle?" asked Zuko after the twentieth repetition.

"It's good," said Airoh. "But it's not good enough. Remember, you have to train until the movement becomes one with you, until you can move through it like you move through a walk."

Zuko gave a tight grin of satisfaction before turning back to the other soldiers.

"That boy works too hard," said Airoh, yawning. "I'm getting tired just watching him."

"I thought you said—"

"I know what I said. Practice until you can take it like a walk. A walk is no problem, but what he's doing is wearing me out just sitting here."

Reiko smiled a very small smile, but it was there nonetheless. "Such an odd contrast, milord," she said. "One moment a general, the next a jester."

"Life is too short to take without laughing at it," said Airoh, as if he were a sage. "I'm just supplying a need." He winked at her.

"So, if you are so wise," she said, "you can tell me the meaning of life, correct?"

"Yes," he said. "The meaning is this – tea. Lots of tea."

She began shaking at that point, but by the way she hid her face Airoh predicted her amusement.

A loud thump issued forth as the heat from a gout of flame sent the prince sprawling.

"You're over thinking it," said Airoh. "You don't think when you walk, so you shouldn't have to think when doing this either."

"Yes, Uncle," said Zuko, after a moment's hesitation. Airoh nodded to himself. That instant had been all he needed to know that Zuko had been preparing an excuse before biting it back and going to work again. Too stubborn, he thought sadly. The way is open for him at any time, and he fights it over and over.

"Milord!" came a shout from behind. Airoh turned to see a messenger running from the hatch. "Milord," said the soldier upon his arrival, "the crow's nest reports Fire Nation ships off to the north, bearing north northeast."

"A fleet?" asked Zuko. "Who's leading them?"

"The ships bear Zhao's banners."

Zuko snarled. "Zhao would only be going to the northern Water Tribes for one reason – he knows the Avatar has to be there."

"More than likely," conceded Airoh. "He's also incredibly likely to set up a blockade as soon as possible – and he'll not let you pass a second time."

"Then we'll have to get around him before he sets up," said Zuko. "Tell the helmsman to change our course to bear northeast, and tell the engine room to pour on all speed!" The messenger bowed and ran off, Zuko close behind.

Reiko stood, a small smile playing across her features. "He doesn't sit still for very long, does he?"

"Never has," said the general.

---

The sunlight had grown unusually bright, but the shade of the leaves dispersed it easily enough. The scent of the woods threatened to overwhelm at times, except for the muted breeze that passed through every now and again. Birds sang, insects buzzed and whirred, but there was no accounting for the one sound they needed most to hear.

"Where are those monkies!" groaned Sokka. "For a place that's supposed to be full of 'em, I don't see anything at all!"

"That may mean the king is waiting for us," said Shin, his eyes roving. "Don't let your guard down."

"Hey, no worries there," said Sokka. "You're looking at the best warrior in all the Southern Water… hey!" He pointed for, lo and behold, a basket full of peaches lay near the trunk of a tree.

"I wonder what it's doing there?" asked Katara.

"That is a little weird," said Aang uncertainly, but Sokka was already running.

"Food! Oh, how I've missed you so! Let me hold you right before I eat you!" Sokka sprinted, sprang toward the basket and collided head on. The group held its breath, but there was nothing except for the sounds of munching.

"What a relief," said Katara. "I was expecting something to happen. Come on, let's go see if we can get some before—"

The ground around the peaches exploded as Sokka and the basket rose into the air, clutched in the concealed net. Sokka, for his part, was so lost in the ecstasy of eating that he barely noticed his circumstances.

"It's all right," said Aang. "He just has to cut his way out."

"D'you hear that?" Shin shouted up, but Sokka didn't respond.

"Guess I'll have to tell him," said Aang, running toward the tree. He promptly tripped and fell, yelling until a loud whump!

"Aang!" shouted Katara, running forward, albeit more carefully. That was how she saw the trip wire and the pit. She feared the worst as she peered over, but was relieved to see Aang, groggily shaking his head.

She shook her head. "Time to get up," she called down. "I think we've got to get out of this place soon or else—" She suddenly felt herself pitch forward and land on top of the recovering Air Bender.

"Ouch! Katara, what'd you do that for?"

"Sorry, Aang. I think we've been tricked. Hey Shin!" she called out.

"Yes?"

"Could you help us out of here?"

"Ehm… well, no."

Katara blinked. "Why not?"

"I seem to have made the acquaintance of a few of the natives. I'm a little tied up at the moment."

"Natives? What do you mean?" And then a simian face surrounded by brown fur appeared over the edge of the hole, and she understood perfectly. Other faces peered down, chittering and chattering back and forth as a tree branch was extended down. Katara was amazed that they had the strength to pull the two humans up, but pull they did. Afterwards, though, they were tied with some sort of strange grass rope that, while not apparently strong, was enough to bind them.

They were led along no discernible path, but the monkeys seemed to know the way perfectly. The group trudged on through the afternoon, until the early evening, with the sun setting before them, when they arrived at what could only be called the throne. It was a tree, bigger and taller than all the others, and with denser foliage. Monkeys scrambled about all over it and the surrounding trees, while a single monkey sat in a center crack. He was smaller than the others, his fur patchy and uneven, but his eyes betrayed a certain intelligence that the others seemed to lack.

"So, humans," it said at last, its voice harsh and guttural, "what are you doing in my forest?"

The whole lot of them were too dumbstruck at the idea of a talking monkey to answer.

"Never heard a monkey talk before, eh?" said the monkey, doing a fairly human smirk. "Never seen one do this either then." He made a pulling gesture and water poured out of Katara's water skin, some shooting into an orb about the monkey's hand. Katara's eyes widened.

"You can water bend?"

"Yeah," said the monkey. "It's a simple trick, just like talking. Never could get the other elements, though."

"You must have had to go to a lot of places to figure out all that," said Shin.

"I used to be a peddler's monkey," he said. "But he sold me off, so I decided to run away from the doddering fart he gave me to and came here. But you still haven't answered my question." He gestured, sent the ball of water to float over Katara's head.

"Now answer me," he snarled, "or I'll set this on her head and drown her. What are you doing in my forest?"

"We're here to talk," said Aang quickly. "The people back in the town are worried about your pranks and…"

"They weren't worried when they wrecked my home," snarled the king. "They didn't worry when they started knocking down the homes of my followers. We would've shared the land, but they stole it right out from beneath our feet."

"So that's what it's about?" asked Katara. "Revenge?"

"Revenge, yes," snarled the king. "Revenge good. Make them pay for what they did to me, did to us."

This is no good, thought Sokka. This isn't a group ready to go to war. It'll be a slaughter if this king's plans go through.

"What would it take for you to not do this?" asked Aang.

"If you humans would get the hell out, it'd be fine," said the king.

"That won't do," said Shin thoughtfully. "I suppose planting more trees isn't an option either, eh?"

"That would be fine," said the king, much to the surprise of the humans kneeling before him. "But we can't trust the humans. We can't negotiate with them. That mayor is howling for me, and I'm the only one who can talk to him."

"So if someone went to talk to him, you'd be glad to put all this aside?"

"Yes," said the monkey king, "but you're expecting me to trust you with this message?"

"I'm the Avatar," said Aang. "It's my job to bring balance to the world. It's my duty."

The king stared at him for a time, his frowning crinkled brow becoming, if anything, more crinkled for frowning. Finally, he said, "I'll let you go back. But no funny business. Otherwise, the lady here gets it."

-

The dust cloud rising behind him was the first clue to the Avatar's arrival. Guards standing along the walls peered and commented, wondering what could be behind such a rush. Then the dot hopped and flew, and they saw the thin frame of the Avatar hanging off his glider.

He climbed higher, flying over the wall, straight to the center of the city, jumping into the magistrate's building through an open window. He was so busy that he didn't even hear the shout of "Hey! He doesn't have an appointment!"

He ran through the halls, finally bursting through the mayor's door. The mayor looked up, his hat slightly askew. "Have you finished him? Is it over?"

"Not yet. He says he's going to get even with you guys if you don't plant trees to make up for the ones you took from him."

"Trees! What do trees have to do with this?"

Aang proceeded to explain about the nature of the king.

"Nonsense!" barked the mayor. "Why should we bow to his threats? He's a prankster! Nothing more!"

"He's a Water Bender," said Aang. "He knows about the hot springs here. I bet he could hurt a lot of people, especially the bathers."

The mayor paled. "But we need that land," he said, albeit more quietly. "The city's growing every day. If we don't expand, we'll have overcrowding and disease."

"But you guys could bend the earth around the trees, right?"

"Well, we could… are you suggesting we share our land with the monkeys?"

"That's what seems to be best."

The mayor stared at Aang for a moment before sighing.

---

The water ball hung a hairsbreadth from Katara's head.

"Sure is taking his sweet time about things, isn't he?" asked the King.

"Oh, don't worry," said Katara. "He'll be back."

"You have a lot of faith in the boy," the King said, his voice deadpan. "I'd hate to see it ruined."

There was a rush of wind, and suddenly the Avatar was there, refolding his staff.

"About time you got back," said the King.

"He says he'll share the land," panted Aang. "Bend the town around the trees that he's going to start planting for you."

The king scoffed. "Did you actually see him do this?"

"Well, no, but I…"

"Don't you know you can't trust that man? Honestly, what an inco—"

"He gave me a sign of goodwill," said Aang.

"Oh? And what kind of sign could I take from him?"

Aang presented a palm to the King. The King stared - and blinked.

"Well, well, well," he uttered bemusedly. "Those are seeds to cypress trees. Those only grow in the city's limits. Some proof."

A monkey suddenly scrambled down the branches. It looked bothered, agitated, and begin to chitter wildly.

"Hey! Slow down! Now start again." The monkey manage to look annoyed before starting over. The King nodded thoughtfully.

"What is it?" asked Aang.

"Chiku here says that he's seen soldiers digging holes around the city. I guess that chump was true to his word."

"Then will you let the others go?" asked Aang. The King gestured, and the others were unbound.

Sokka stretched. "Ah, about time. Let's go see the mayor about some food."

As they began to walk away, the king called out, "Oi! Feel free to stop by sometime whenever you're in our neck of the woods!" The pun struck him as hilarious, coaxing a roaring laugh as the humans trekked on.

---

Kishi: Ha. You guys should have seen the original ending. It was more than just sloppy, it was terrible! I hope this mitigates things somewhat.

Avatar: The Last Air Bender is copyrighted to people who aren't me. I don't know who they are, otherwise, I'd give 'em credit.

The only things I own in this story are those things that I perceive as being original, and thusly are mine. If you recognize something that you came up with first, all credit goes to you.

I have no clue where you can contact me. I think the address is in my profile…