Author's Notes: I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Axxonu for adapting a pretty big chunk of this story into a webcomic. Without you I probably wouldn't have been inspired to continue this fanfiction. Everyone should definitely check it out, the link is in my profile!
Book 2: Earth
Chapter 13: Sanctuary Gate
"Aang, hold still."
He couldn't. The pain lanced through his left shoulder and even though he tried so hard not to move it continued to spasm through him. The arrow had sunk deeper into him when they fought to escape from the ambush, his every movement jostling it further and further in his flesh. His blood soaked through his clothes as they fled, his breaths short and ragged and he burned with the thought that the arrow could have been poisoned.
The team had managed to find relative safety in a ruined temple and Katara went to work, commanding him to bite down on a wad of cloth. She tore away his sleeve and cleaned some of the blood, her gaze set with grim determination while he did all he could not to cry. He dimly registered Toph using earthbending to hold down his arms and legs.
"I don't think it's poisoned," she said. "But I'm glad you had the good sense not to try to pull it out."
A distant part of his mind thought that a shame. Perhaps if he edged closer to death the Avatar State might actually make an appearance to stop it.
She did it without warning. Agony ripped through his shoulder and down his arm and he convulsed as much as he could despite his limited movement. Katara used bending - bloodbending? - to staunch the wound as the arrow clattered to the ground. Her hands glowed with healing power, digging deep into his wound. He gulped in deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself, his vision blurry with tears and clothes clinging to him in sweat. He pulled his other arm free of the earth once he trusted himself not to flinch away just so he wouldn't feel so trapped.
"Sorry that hurt so much," Katara said to him, eyes still fixed on the wound. Pain continued to throb through his arm and chest but he could already feel her efforts to soothe it. "A wound like this is… new to me."
"Lightning hurt more," he grunted out. The cloth must have fallen from his mouth. He must have screamed, too - his throat felt raw.
"Don't know how you do it, sweetness," Toph chimed. Aang assumed that Zuko, Sokka, and Suki were off ensuring their safety. "Gotta give you tons of credit. That almost made me sick."
"Give Aang credit, too. He was really brave through it." She smiled at him, and for a moment all the pain went away.
"How did you… how'd you bloodbend? It's not a full moon," he managed to say. He regretted his words when they made her smile fall from her face.
"It's easy when the blood is on the outside," she said, returning her full attention to his care. "It's not like I was doing it to control you."
"Teach me how to heal," he said after a moment. Healing was one of the many bending secrets he never had the chance to learn.
She scoffed. "What, between all your other training? And us constantly moving?"
"I'll manage."
"If I teach you how to heal then you won't need me anymore," she said, a hint of a joke in her tone.
"Crazy talk," he mumbled. His eyelids started to feel heavy - he must have lost more blood than he'd thought. "I'll always need you."
Toph stood, jerking a thumb toward the ruins of an archway that used to be a door. "I'm gonna get going before I vomit for real."
Katara found bandages in her pack and wrapped his shoulder in a soft laugh and his arm in a smile that made the pain dim even more. "The inside of the wound is going to need healing again before I seal the whole thing up, but you'll be okay. You need to rest now."
"I'll learn how, whatever it takes." His head swam. He didn't even realize that she gently pushed him down to his sleeping roll. "Sifu Katara…"
A dozen Water Navy ships.
Just a dozen, and they had already caused so much damage.
Aang fell onto the ice covering the harbor, staff swinging at a mass of soldiers that roared toward the docks. His blast sent them sliding across the ice and snow, but a pair escaped his onslaught and rushed him with club and machete. Aang drew the meteorite sword in his other hand and slapped their attacks away, attacking them with firebending once he forced an opening.
A dozen Water Navy ships. A field of ice spanning the harbor. Their numbers were few, but their tactics made up for it. Unfortunately, right now, Ba Sing Se's forces numbered even fewer.
The ice under Aang's feet melted and tried to drag him into the sea, but he leapt out of its reach and swept the offending waterbender off balance, cutting through his defenses with an airbending-empowered sword. He tried to think about what to do regarding the ships, but they gleamed with a coating of ice. Burning them wasn't an option.
People screamed somewhere behind him. Refugees clamored to get through the Sanctuary Gate as Water Tribe soldiers encroached from the ice and a handful of Earth Kingdom guards and soldiers fought back against them. Anger bubbled up in his stomach at the sight.
Why aren't they letting the refugees through?
Wind whistled at Aang's back and he heard a grunt followed by the sound of a body falling into the snow. He turned just in time to see the life leave his would-be attacker and a lithe figure in black clothing appear as if from the water.
"Watch your back, Avatar," said his rescuer. With her pin-straight black hair tied back and a mask over her mouth, it took Aang a moment to recognize her.
"Mai!" he exclaimed. "What're you doing here?" Not an enemy in this world, he had to tell himself. Back in the Fire Nation, she led a group called the Roku Warriors. And then it clicked - didn't Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors take a guard duty job in Ba Sing Se in his world?
"I'll explain later," she replied, as unwavering as always. "Cover me. I risked my butt coming out here on the ice to save yours." She hurled a sling that wrapped around another approaching soldier's ankles and floored him, which Aang followed up with a blast of air that forced the soldier to slide across the ice.
They hurried back toward the docks with footing as careful as they could manage. "We have to get the refugees through the gate," he said. "If we don't, this'll be a slaughter!"
"I know," Mai replied, arms crossed protectively so that her knives framed her face. "But it requires earthbending and the soldiers won't open it, even if I order them."
Aang grit his teeth. "I'll make them."
By this point, Appa had dropped off the others and joined the fray himself, swiping his tail at a cluster of Water Navy soldiers and blasting them away from the docks. Toph pulled up a stone wall to give them some space, dislodging the ice and snow from the docks. Aang saw more of the Roku Warriors forming a blockade of their own, ducking and weaving behind shanties and buildings to assault their enemies from the shadows.
"Any sign of the princess and friends?" Azula asked, tugging on her leather bracers. "She has to be here, doesn't she?" Aang shook his head.
Zuko pulled his swords out of their scabbard and noticed Mai at Aang's side, his eyes widening. "What? Mai!"
"Took you long enough to notice me," she said. "Keep up with your training?"
"Uh…" He shook his head, as if to clear any doubts that she stood in front of him. "Yeah, I have!"
"Guys, we don't have time," Aang urged them. "Listen…"
"I should've expected the Avatar to be here."
Ice gripped Aang's stomach when he heard the voice. Her voice. He took a deep breath and turned to face her, spotting the speaker on top of Toph's earthen wall. She wore the clothing of an Earth Kingdom peasant, but it was unmistakably Katara. He readied his staff.
"Toph, I need you to get that gate open. Help the refugees through. Force it if you must," he ordered, eyes fixed on Katara. She stood with arms crossed, looking over them with vague interest. Another girl - Yue, he realized - stood next to her. "Zuko, Mai, you two keep fighting the soldiers. Azula…"
Azula cut him off. "I'm staying right here." She stood at his side and settled into a firebending stance.
He nodded as their friends ran off to do as he bid them. "I was gonna say that."
"Giving me a real fight this time, Avatar?" Katara asked. "What a surprise. I thought airbenders just loved running away!"
He answered by stomping his foot, shattering the wall she stood upon and shooting the rocks at her. Katara leapt back into the sea, water swirling around her. Whips lashed out at Aang and Azula, but together they summoned fire into being that was hot enough to turn her water to steam. Azula's flames, Aang noticed, burned blue.
He frowned at Azula. "Remember what I told you?"
"I know, I know," she said under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear. "I won't kill her." She swiped orange flames at Katara, launching herself at the princess before Aang could.
Aang found himself thankful for that. He switched his target to Yue, who had not avoided his initial attack but recovered already, swinging her heavy blade at him. He blocked with his own sword just in time, surprised at the strength behind the blow. "You're a swordfighter?" she asked, blinking her wide blue eyes. "I wouldn't have expected you to use a weapon like this."
Aang scoffed as they traded blows, but took to dodging rather than blocking because of the painful vibrations shooting up and down his arm. He thought she seemed remarkably unconcerned about the fighting all around them. "No kidding. I had the same thought." Without bending, he was no match for her, so he jumped out of her range to end it quickly with earthbending.
Yue was faster than he expected and pounced, getting within his defenses and striking him with the hilt of her blade. The strike to his gut had him doubled over, allowing her to grab him by the hair. He managed to force her knee down, sinking her leg into the ground before she could bash him in the head with it, stunning her enough to let go of him. She tried swiping with her sword, but her trapped foot caused her to be thrown off balance enough that he had time to cover his hand in rocks and grasp the blade that way, ripping it from her hands and sinking her deeper into the dirt. He threw aside her sword.
"You've got such a sad look on your face," she said, once again showing a surprising lack of distress about the situation and her loss. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."
"Well, uh…" He fumbled over his words, at a loss for what to say in response to that. He never spoke to Yue much in the short time he knew her. "I'll try to smile more?"
"Aang!" Azula's shout saved him from responding. "Stop fooling around and get over here!"
With a harbor full of water and ice behind her, Katara had Azula on the ropes. Azula stayed light on her feet, weaving between Katara's attacks and responding with jets of red and orange. But Katara danced, stepping over the ice that had glazed the harbor with all the grace of the same Katara he knew. Shimmering disks floated to her hands and sliced toward Azula which she managed to break just in time with flame-empowered kicks which Katara in turn absorbed with water and rain. Aang leapt into the fray after shaking away the thought of helping Katara instead, adding his flames to Azula's own.
"Nice of you to join us," Katara said in the same breath that frost kissed her fingers. Aang couldn't bring himself to reply. Tiny, harsh pinpricks of cold rolled over his skin that chilled to his bone.
"Where's your dear brother?" Azula asked her, juggling a fireball before hurling it at Katara. "I owe him for ditching us."
"Where's yours?" Katara shot back. "I owe him for leaving this little present." She pointed at her face, where Aang spotted a tiny burn under her left eye that looked like a crescent moon. He'd thought it was an eye bag at first. "It's going to leave a scar."
Back home, Katara couldn't heal scars, either. His body in that world carried all sorts of them.
"How about another one to match?" Azula asked, she took a stance to shoot fire from her fingertips, but she froze in place, her eyes wide. "What? Why can't I move?"
Aang's stomach dropped. He recognized that look, the fear in her eyes and the quivering of limbs as she tried to fight back against the force acting on her. "Bloodbending…" he whispered.
Azula's arm swung toward Aang, a marionette dancing on her master's strings. "Aang! What's happening?" Her face set into a grimace as she tried resisting, but Aang dodged between her blows. A hand with fingernails like claws swiped at his face but he blocked her arm with his, buffeting her away with a harmless gust of wind.
He looked to the waterbender dancing on the ice, her hands held up with fingers splayed. "Katara! Stop this!"
"You can't tell me what to do, Avatar," she informed him with all the self-assuredness he knew and normally loved. He found himself horrified by the view this time, her puppetry framed by the night sky and the moon behind her.
The half moon.
Toph didn't know when things got to a point where she obeyed Aang's requests without any protest. She wanted a rematch with Katara but part of her accepted it wasn't time for that yet. Before meeting the Avatar, the only person in her life she ever respected that much had been Jet.
But Jet manipulated her. Confused her. Used her strength and her friendship to his advantage. Molded her the way he wanted and danced with words that somehow rang true but tasted as sweet as blasting jelly. She'd been blind to it for years until Aang came and changed all that.
Aang had his own secrets, but now that she knew them he'd been as honest and direct with her as any earthbender. His story of another life was hard to believe and unless he had completely deluded himself she knew it had to be true, perhaps better than anyone else. The spirit she'd somehow picked up quelled all doubts of that.
She'd realized that the same spirit had nudged her to accept Sokka's help when he found her unconscious on the road, collapsed from the oppressive heat. Toph didn't want to make a habit of listening to strange voices and feelings in her head, but part of her found that she liked it. It felt like an old friend, stable and direct and comforting.
Stop dilly-dallying and take down that wall!
Uncountable panicked refugees pushed against a line of earthbender guards in front of Sanctuary Gate, a cacophony of stomping feet that sent her senses into a tizzy. Families hugged each other close, cowering in fear away from the encroaching tide of the Water Navy. Light-footed, knife-throwing warriors who worked with the lady Zuko knew - Mai? - did most of the fighting but she knew they were outnumbered. There was no chance the earthbender guards or their hired help would win this fight.
And yet the gate guards refused to let the people through.
Throughout the din, Toph heard a little girl sobbing into her parents' silks as all three huddled together. They held onto each other, the father whispering lies to them about how they'd get out of this unharmed. That they'd go back home and drink tea and walk among their gardens and everything would be okay. The girl dropped her doll to the ground, its porcelain head shattering to pieces.
She had to help them or there'd be a massacre.
Toph stomped her feet, rising up on a rock pillar higher than anyone else in the crowd. "Hey, dunderheads! Let these people through or face my wrath!" She stomped again for good measure, shaking the earth and commanding the whole crowd's attention.
"Not without the proper clearance!" a guard replied, his voice gravelly and hard. "We cannot allow these refugees…"
"So you're just gonna let them all die?" she shouted back. "What kind of soldiers are you?" She stepped forward, the ground rising to meet her as she lowered back to their level, the crowd parting for her.
The guard held up a hand, a gesture for her to stop. "We've been ordered to keep these gates shut!"
"And I order otherwise!" Toph pushed him aside with barely any effort, rage burning in her belly. How could people of Ba Sing Se stand for this? How could the Council of Five allow this?
The guard found his feet quickly, taking an earthbending stance. "Stop! Stand down or face the consequences!" The people in the crowd had other ideas, bum rushing him before he could retaliate against Toph.
"Let us through!"
"Save us, please!"
"We have children with us!"
More guards rushed to the aid of their own, shouting and fighting against the throng of bodies. Some guards helped the people but many helped their own. People jostled against Toph, then pushed harder, elbows and shoulders digging into her as their desperation mounted. "Hey! Wait!" she shouted but no one heard, and the stomping feet and anguished shouts and rapid pumping hearts combined to overwhelm her senses until all she knew was the cold hard stone pressed against her cheek. She thought for a moment that she had fallen and she'd be trampled but she'd been flattened against the ornate carved latticework of the Sanctuary Gate instead.
But the earth was her anchor, her strength. She clutched it in her hands and pushed, thinking of the porcelain doll that shattered and the one she knew in her childhood. The rumbling gave her back her sight and she sensed the width of the wall as it crumbled to dust. Head bowed and hands outstretched, she destroyed the wall and smiled when she felt the cool air of the night beyond it. She stood in place as the refugees ran to safety, to sanctuary - and now they all gave her a wide berth. Some even cried out their thanks to her, but so many rushed by her that she couldn't even form a picture of them all.
"I'm gonna give your top brass a piece of my mind next time I see them," she said to the guards who stayed behind without turning to face them. They stood in silence, cowed, and part of her wanted them to drown in their shame. But the other part, the bit of Freedom Fighter that lingered in her, spoke instead. "Get out there and fight back, all of you. Show the Water Tribes that they can't take this city from us."
Aang gasped, his chest pumping in short breaths as if the winds he weaved decided to leave his lungs behind. "How are… how are you doing this?"
A dark smile graced Katara's features and for the first time it hit Aang.
This wasn't Katara. Not the Katara he knew. She would never revel in something like this, forcing her control over another no matter how much power it gave her. As she dragged Azula toward him again, he hurtled toward Katara with wind and fire spinning in his hand. Just when he was about to hit her, his outstretched fist jerked from his target and slammed into the ice beneath him and cracks spiderwebbed under their feet. She had grabbed control of his arm, but he followed the movement and somersaulted forward, coming down with a kick that slammed her with a vortex from above.
Katara's body smacked against the ice and he felt movement return to his right hand. Azula fell to her knees, her strings cut.
Aang was about to continue the attack when a horn bellowed from somewhere behind him. He whirled around to look, spotting the Sanctuary Gate collapse and crowds of refugees flooding through to safety beyond. At the same time, Earth Kingdom soldiers from other parts of the outer wall reached the harbor, mounting a defense against the Water Navy with catapults that took down three of their ships.
Katara stood. "Well, seems like Ba Sing Se managed to rally enough of a counterattack today," she noted. "That's my queue to leave, I suppose."
Aang narrowed his eyes. "What was your purpose in coming here today? Why such a small fleet?"
"I thought I'd try my hand at raiding the city for the first time," she replied, shrugging. "And the Navy would never give me command of more than this many ships. I'm only a woman, you know. But this was fun. Thanks for the learning experience, Avatar." She smiled, but before he could reply she sunk through the ice and vanished to the sea below.
Once again, he cursed his inability to waterbend well enough to follow her.
"I can't believe she didn't even stick to her own plan."
Suki shrugged, edging closer to him while the guards patrolled past. "Give her a break, Sokka. She saw the Avatar and wanted another chance to fight."
Sokka shushed her. "Don't use that name! Stick with what we all decided!" They stood now on a dirt road among nearly a hundred refugees as Earth Kingdom soldiers tried to reestablish order and quell their panic. They'd made it through the Sanctuary Gate, melting among the crowd once the walls fell and the people escaped through the gap. Sokka had recognized the Avatar's companion Toph as the one who allowed them all through, but he slunk past her and hoped she didn't notice. He wondered, briefly, what the Avatar wanted in Ba Sing Se, but there was no time for that now.
Katara and Yue were supposed to come with them. Instead, Sokka found himself only with Suki and Ghashiun, the sandbender. Not a turn of events he would have preferred - leave it to his hotheaded sister to screw things up somehow.
"I am not calling you Boulder," Suki said. "Y'know, for someone who's supposedly really creative you came up with a stupid alias."
"Says the one who picked the name 'Song.' You don't look like a Song."
She put her hands on her hips. "I think it's a really pretty name!"
Ghashiun, now without his goggles, rolled his eyes. "Can't you guys save it for later?"
Sokka crossed his arms. "So now what do we do?"
"The plan's still on," Suki told him. "Instead of being up here with us, they're just down there." She pointed at the ground, toward the hidden network of tunnels that snaked all throughout the city - according to Ghashiun. "We just have to figure out a way to coordinate with them."
Too much relied on Ghashiun for Sokka's liking. He found himself staring at the sandbender, who noticed and glared back at Sokka before crossing his arms and looking away.
A customs officer who looked quite disgruntled about having to leave her desk behind at Sanctuary Gate approached them. She held a piece of paper that she struggled to write on without anything to support it. "Names?"
"I'm Song, and this is my boyfriend Tseng!" Suki said, hooking her arm in Sokka's.
Sokka held back a groan. "Yep, just a couple. Whose names sound really similar. Yeah, we hear that a lot."
"And this is our friend Ghashiun," she continued, gesturing to the sandbender.
The officer scrawled away but poked a hole in her paper with her pen. "Right. Intended address?"
"Lower Ring, east block. Paper Lantern neighborhood," Ghashiun said.
"I can't believe they're letting everyone through all at once," the officer moaned once she made another hole and the action made her drop her inkwell, staining the earth black. "How am I supposed to keep track of all of you, huh? There are ways this should be done!" She threw her arms up in the air, her paper crinkling in her grip.
"I think you need a bit of a break, lady," Suki said, trying to calm her. "You seem a little… stressed."
"Of course I'm stressed!" She squeezed her pen so hard it broke. "There was just an attack! And I had to leave my favorite stamps behind. There's no organization to anything right now!" She stomped off, mumbling something about getting a new pen.
"She kind of reminds me of you when you get all high-strung," Suki said to Sokka, eyebrow raised in amusement.
He scoffed. "Ha ha. Now let's go, we have a lot of walking to do before we get to the Lower Ring."
The sun passed its zenith in the sky by the time they arrived back at the Upper Ring the following day. All of them except for Zuko, oddly enough, maintained sour moods. Aang supposed Mai might have been another exception but it was hard to tell what she felt. She'd joined them atop Appa without saying a word and Aang didn't feel a need to say anything about it, either.
They'd flown back to the Upper Ring after the battle, staying only long enough to ensure the Water Navy's retreat. The Sanctuary Gate had been shut again once the refugees all made it through, with the Ministry of Civic Affairs working through the night to get them all settled into the city. That development had surprised Aang, but he supposed the city owed them at least that much after what Toph had told him about the confrontation at the gate.
"What're you doing all the way here, Mai? Is your island okay?" Zuko sat in silence most of the flight back, giving his friends an opportunity to rest, but Aang knew he burned with questions for the Roku Warrior the whole way and finally opened his mouth once they passed the walls that enclosed the Upper Ring.
"Crescent Island's fine," she responded. "We started getting some support from the Golden City." She sat with her legs folded, tinkering with the knife holsters she kept around her wrists. Aang wondered if that support meant she had met Ty Lee. "I got bored after that, you know." She looked up at him with the hint of a smile. "After you first told me about all your adventures I figured it was time we got out here, too."
"Yet you became a simple ferry guard," said Azula, sitting cross-legged and surly. She flexed her arms and fingers as if still ruminating over their betrayal. "Quite a step down from esteemed warriors founded by an Avatar to protect his home."
Zuko scowled at her. "Azula!"
Mai shrugged. "I never said this wasn't boring, too. But my men and women all decided to help any way we could. And this was where we were needed."
"Do you guys always keep that gate closed when the Water Navy's invading?" Toph asked, crossing her arms. She propped herself up between two bedrolls, kicking her feet up on a third. Sabi kept trying to play with her but kept her distance.
Mai frowned. "That had nothing to do with us. I'm coming with you guys to the city to talk to someone about that, and other things."
Appa landed in the palace's outer pavilion again, but an official in olive green robes guided them to their new dwelling. Aang was too tired to protest that and looked forward only to getting a couple hours' rest after their constant flying and fighting. The official led them to an expansive home situated aside a topiary garden and koi ponds.
The inside of the home felt similar to what he remembered of the one from his world, with a wide open entrance hall and a short flight of stairs leading to an upper level with a tea table. A short, round dining table sat in the center of the hall with cream colored cushions for seating. Drapes the color of autumn leaves let in light from windows that overlooked the gardens beyond and the lacquered cherry wood patio behind the house. Sliding doors led to the other rooms, presumably their bedchambers. Aang smelled something woody and a little earthy that might have been ginseng.
"Home sweet home, I guess," he said, once they all got a good look around. The official left them after assuring they could ask for anything they needed. Aang only wanted a place for Appa to rest in the open and close enough that he was never out of their sight.
"How long do we plan to stay here?" Azula asked him. "We still haven't told them about…"
"I know," Aang said. The lunar eclipse. "I'll figure out what we're doing soon."
"It'd be nice if you stayed here for a little bit," Mai said. "I got a little bit of an idea for how Zuko progressed back at the Gate, but… the firebending is new. I hope it doesn't mean you forgot what I taught you."
Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah… you missed a lot." He fished in his belt pocket for one of the throwing daggers he treasured for nearly the entirety of their journey. "And I haven't slacked a single day."
A thought came to Aang. "Mai, what sort of things do the Roku Warriors specialize in, again?"
She dug her hands into her pockets as she considered his question. "Spying, infiltration. Fighting at a distance where it's safest for us. Why do you ask?"
"I might need your help," he said. "From all of you."
Someone knocked on their front door. Aang instinctively looked to Toph, who shrugged. "I dunno who it is," she said.
He walked to the door and pulled it open, coming face to face with an oddly familiar old woman in deep green robes bordered in black. She smelled strongly of incense and sweet peach and jasmine perfume, her hair pulled back into a tight, grey bun, though a few hairs had fallen out of place presumably in her rush to get there. Her eyes had been caked in blue mascara and her cheeks powdered.
"Hello, Avatar Aang," she said, offering a quick bow. "I am Grand Secretariat Wu."
Aang recognized her with a start and had to stop himself from exclaiming her identity in his world. She was the fortuneteller. Aunt Wu, the villagers called her. Back in his world, after visiting her village for the first time he never saw her again and frankly hadn't even thought about her in years. He wondered what sequence of events brought a simple village mystic to one of the highest offices in Ba Sing Se in place of Long Feng. His next thought, absurdly, was if she still peddled fortunes and futures and if she would do a reading for him.
Mai found words for him when he faltered a second too long to come up with a reply. "You honor us, Grand Secretariat," she said. Her voice never rose among her usual monotone but Aang picked up the practiced ease she displayed in her bow and polite smile. "Please, come inside and share some tea." She nodded to Zuko who took it as a request to start brewing and departed to the back of the house for the water pump.
Wu shook her head and stepped through the doorway. "No, you have it the wrong way around. I would love some tea, but first I must thank you all for your heroics at the Sanctuary Gate. I fear we would have lost a lot more if you had not been present."
"The Roku Warriors did a lot of the work," said Zuko as he returned and rummaged through a wooden cupboard in the corner for tea leaves, a kettle, and mugs. Painted spring flowers coiled around the white porcelain of the teapot.
"And we would've lost a lot less if you just opened the gates for those people," Toph interjected, her bangs covering her eyes in such a way that she looked more imposing than ever. "All those people came to Ba Sing Se for safety and you shut them out like vermin."
Wu seemed taken aback by her directness but composed herself quickly. "It was a truly regrettable circumstance and one I had no part in, I assure you. I command the Dai Li and the various ministries, not the military."
"The secret police, you mean," Aang said. He didn't know why he said it; perhaps it was Toph's anger that radiated and influenced him. She was right to be angry. Instead of looking at Wu he focused on Zuko as he used firebending to heat the kettle. "I thought they had their hands in everything around here."
Mai stiffened and glanced at him with barely perceptible alarm shown only by the slight movement of her hand. He wondered if she concealed a weapon in her palm or if it was just a reflex from being in a potentially dangerous situation. "The Avatar means no disrespect," she said to Wu, her voice careful and measured. "We're simply tired from the battle."
"Oh, no, I think he did," said Azula, sitting down on one of the cushions and folding one leg over the other. "Zuzu, pour me a cup, would you?"
Wu folded her hands together beneath the billowing wide sleeves of her robes and sighed. "No offense taken. Five years ago, the Dai Li under Long Feng were corrupt, but once I was chosen to take his office I worked to root it out from its core. My work is not yet done but I have made significant strides in going back to our original objective from the time of Avatar Kyoshi: to protect the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se."
Aang didn't need verification from Toph to sense the truthfulness in her voice. He nodded to Wu and took a seat at the table, taking a page out of Mai's book and inviting her to join them. "I understand," he said. "Please, come sit with us."
Toph didn't budge. "Is that why there are half a dozen men standing around outside watching us?"
Aang froze again and glanced at Wu, who had sat down, perfectly at ease, and already started drinking her tea. She smiled after placing the teacup back down on the table. "The Dai Li accompany me everywhere. It's for my own protection, though honestly at times like this it does get somewhat suffocating. Still, it is a requirement. You may be the Avatar and his friends but we still do not know each other, and from my understanding Long Feng has antagonized you in the past. Trust needs to be established on both sides, especially in a city such as this one."
Aang almost scoffed. If only she knew how much of an understatement that was.
Azula drummed her fingers on the table as she sipped her tea. "What can you offer us, then, so that we trust you?"
"Honesty and transparency," she replied. "Hospitality and protection. And most importantly, advice: the only way to last long enough in this city to make a difference is to consider your words carefully. The black widow mantis hunts with one claw but devours its prey by subduing it with the other four."
"What kind of proverb is that?" Zuko asked, frowning. "Black widow mantises have six claws."
Aang sipped his tea, pondering her words as the flavor of lavender and mint warmed his insides. He hadn't realized he still felt a chill from the battle. From Katara. "There was a reason we came to Ba Sing Se," he told her, finally. "We need help. A lunar eclipse is coming and we want to mount an invasion against the Water Tribes before the arrival of the second moon. That's when waterbenders lose their power."
Wu laughed. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't that. "A lunar eclipse? Dear boy, after all these years of war don't you think we've tried that?" She reached into her robes and pulled out a well-worn journal, its binding thick and leathery with the inscription of a sun and moon on the front and back covers. "The royal astrologers and diviners - if they can even be called that anymore - knew of the coming lunar eclipse for years. They've all been mapped out for the next decade, and let me tell you, they are more common than you'd think. I counted myself among the royal diviners before I took this office and know this to be true."
Azula slammed her teacup against the table, its contents spilling out onto the table. Mai and Zuko gave her a dirty look and moved to mop it up with silk napkins. "So you're telling us it's pointless? You haven't succeeded in taking advantage of waterbenders losing their power so you're just going to give up and keep hiding behind these walls?"
Toph stood up, fists clenched. "I agree with spicequeen. That's the cowardly option. You sound just like the generals."
Wu gently placed her teacup down and patted at her lips with a napkin. "I admire your frankness, but it is a useless endeavor. Lunar eclipses last for only a period of roughly three hours. I will grant you that it is much longer than a solar eclipse but it is still not enough time to cross the oceans to the North and South Poles to mount an invasion, much less to take their cities. I am not a warrior or a soldier and yet I still know that."
"So that's it?" Zuko asked, standing and throwing his hands out wide. Sabi glided away from him, chittering in alarm from the sudden movement. "You're going to give up because you think the war's already lost?"
Wu folded her hands in her lap and looked down at the table. "As I said, I have no military experience and little say in our campaigns. But I do know that the Earth Kingdom is fractured, hope lost. Many who haven't holed themselves up behind these walls have fled to the sands of Si Wong. It's all I can do to keep this kingdom afloat, head above the water. But there are enemies within and without. Perhaps my predecessor had the right idea to flee to the Fire Nation and consolidate power there."
There was a lot that Aang didn't know but Long Feng was a constant in both worlds. "No, Long Feng was thinking only of himself," he said.
Wu took a deep breath and smiled at him. "Indeed." She finished her tea and then stood. "I have imposed on you long enough and I am sure you are tired. I am sorry to shut down your plan for an invasion but I do wish for you to stay as a guest in our city for as long as you are able."
"Thank you for the visit, Grand Secretariat," Mai said, standing with her. Aang had almost forgotten Mai was there.
"When you are finished resting, General Fong would like to see you at the palace," said Wu. "He told me as I departed that he was too busy to come down here himself. I am sure you understand."
Aang nodded. His head spun with thoughts as he mulled over the conversation. "I'll go. Thank you."
Wu stopped before she reached the door. "Oh, and one last thing," she said. "In three days time I will be throwing a feast in your honor, Avatar - both as a welcome to our city and a show of gratitude for defending it." She smiled. "There will be much dancing and an opportunity to meet many influential persons within the city. Please dress your best."
"Er, sure thing," he said as she departed. He didn't think he even owned something that qualified as dressing his best.
Toph aimed a low kick at the table leg that trembled the teacups and earned her a scolding look from Zuko. "Yeah, right, like anyone from the Lower Ring is gonna be there."
"Toph, was everything she said the truth?" Aang asked. He glanced out of the window but didn't see any Dai Li agents.
"I think so," she said. "That lady was good at talking in layers, though."
"Huh?" Zuko asked.
Toph sighed and clarified. "Talking in a roundabout way to avoid telling the truth or telling lies, or telling both in the same sentence. It's hard to say for sure."
"But the party," said Azula, clapping her hands together. "Rubbing shoulders with Ba Sing Se's high society. Well, that sounds fun, at least. Coming here won't be a complete waste of time."
"That's it? The fact that the lunar eclipse idea was pointless doesn't bother you in the least?" Zuko asked her.
"Of course it does," she said. "But I'm not going to dwell on it, dear brother. We just have to move onto the next idea. And have contingencies in place for next time."
"Why don't we go back to the original plan?" Zuko suggested. Aang wasn't even sure what that was at this point - his original plan was to get back home. "Aang, you still need to master all the elements. Unless you think you can beat the emperor without waterbending, we need to find you a master."
"Katara," he said immediately, but amended his statement right after that. "Or Sokka, I guess."
"That evil waterbender you just fought?" Mai asked. "The Water Nation princess and prince?"
Toph held out a hand. "Hold it, buddy. You still didn't master earthbending yet."
Aang ignored Mai's question. "Let's stay at least until that party. I want to find out more about what happened to King Bumi. A hundred years ago, he was my friend. And I hope that hasn't changed."
"Do any of you even know the proper etiquette for a party like that?" Mai asked them, putting a hand on her hip. "Judging from your behavior with the Grand Secretariat, I'm guessing no. Seriously, what's wrong with all of you talking to her like that? This isn't the kind of place you can make enemies so carelessly."
Aang shuffled his feet. In his world, Toph was best at that sort of thing. "Er, Toph?"
"Don't look at me," she said. "Haven't been part of the nobility since I was a really little kid."
"What, like it's hard?" Azula asked, absentmindedly twirling the hair in her bangs around her fingers. "I can learn and master 'proper etiquette' in no time."
Mai shrugged. "Azula has a chance. Maybe even Aang." She nodded her head toward Zuko and Toph. "But you two are pretty hopeless."
Zuko frowned. "How do you know about that kind of thing? You were raised on an isolated island just like me and Azula."
"It still had politics," she informed him. "Ceremonies, wealth... Part of my training involved learning to sit still and be polite and do as I was told. It helps with infiltration, reading your surroundings and melting into a crowd of people to become invisible. As I said, the Roku Warriors don't just throw knives around. You've still got a lot to learn, Zuko."
"We've got three days," Aang said. "For now, let's get some rest. I've got an appointment with General Fong to make."
The submarines made it through to the network of underground catacombs without being detected. Katara found herself among them, along with Yue, instead of above ground sneaking her way into the city with Sokka, Suki, and all the refugees.
"It's so dark and damp down here," said Yue, standing with Katara while the soldiers disembarked from the submarines. They had found themselves in an underground shore with caverns so high that their illumination couldn't reach the ceiling. The dark pool of water seemed almost like black glass, barely rippling as the submarines bobbed at the surface. Something about it seemed unsettling so Katara turned to her friend, noting that her white hair and bright blue eyes almost seemed luminescent in the darkness.
"Sorry, Yue," she said. "I'd rather not be down here either, but… I only have myself to blame. Fighting the Avatar was kind of fun, though, don't you think?"
"It was," Yue responded, staring ahead into the tunnels connecting this cavern to the others. "And I don't mind. It is comfortable down here."
Katara never understood why Yue enjoyed nighttime and dark places, but she supposed it was better than fearing it. "If you say so. Let's go - we need to find a cavern big enough to hold our forces and use it as our base of operations." She lifted her lantern, casting shadow on the tunnel ahead. Ghashiun had mapped out what little of the tunnels he knew - and a direct route to the city - but he suspected no one alive knew the full depth and breadth of them. Katara had her work cut out for her, but the first step was complete. They had made it inside of the outer walls.
Yue led the way, as serene as ever. "You're not worried about Sokka and Suki?"
"I think this works out better for all of us. With Sokka handling things up above and me down here, Ba Sing Se won't stand a chance."
Author's Notes: Quick update, eh? Please review!
