Book 2: Earth
Chapter 14: Distrust and Deliberations
Caution was never Toph's strong suit.
Over time, it stopped being a trait of Aang's, too.
That was why the two of them had snuck away from camp in the night to raid the fortress themselves. As soon as they arrived, Aang remembered that it was the same place where Zhao had imprisoned him once upon a time, where the Blue Spirit had rescued him. It felt like a lifetime ago.
Now, with Toph's metalbending, the fortress stood no chance. She ripped through it like paper, opening the way for Aang to unleash chaos in the night. These footsoldiers stood no chance against their combined strength and skill. They were here only for revenge, to subject destruction upon them like the Fire Lord did to the rest of the Earth Kingdom, leaving this as one of the few places untouched by his fury.
"Stop!"
A body barreled into him. He hadn't sensed the person coming, too focused on slamming firebenders into unconsciousness, too determined to rip apart their weapons and catapults. As a reflex he circled the air around himself, throwing them off of him, but when he whirled around to face his attacker he was horrified to see the girl he loved. "Katara? What're you doing?"
"Stopping you from doing something stupid," she said, picking herself up off of the ground. "This is reckless. It serves no purpose. This isn't the way to pay back everyone we've lost."
"What else can we do?"
She had no answer for him. "Let's get out of here. Now. We'll talk about this later."
Aang rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he waited in the antechamber to the war room. After meeting with Grand Secretariat Wu, he and the others collapsed into bed and he ended up sleeping far longer than he had expected to. Dusk had fallen by the time he rose and made his way to the palace with Toph and Mai in tow. Both wanted to accompany him, but he had his own reasons for bringing them along in the first place: he was determined to be a player in Ba Sing Se's messy politics this time around instead of a pawn and he needed them for that.
Toph he wanted for her lying detection skills, that much was true. But something about her was different in this world that he hadn't anticipated: she was much more driven and outspoken about combating injustice in a way that reminded him of his Katara. The Toph in his world wouldn't have cared about coming to a meeting with General Fong; this Toph demanded to come along. She paced back and forth in the antechamber, the wall lanterns making shadows dance across her face.
As for Mai, there was so much he had yet to learn about her, in this world and otherwise, but she had a talent for diplomacy and plenty of experience that could be useful. He also intended to make use of her Roku Warriors. She tossed a knife up in the air and caught it over and over again as they waited, sighing infrequently with boredom.
The doors to the war room opened and a handful of army officers strode out, nodding to Aang and the others as they passed. An aide heralded them inside, where they found Fong seated at the strategy table with various scrolls, maps, and stone figurines scattered around him. Otherwise, the war room looked the same as the previous day, with soldiers stationed at the door rather than Dai Li once again.
"Avatar Aang and friends, thank you for coming," Fong said, sweeping his arms out wide. "And most of all, I offer you my sincere thanks for your part in defending the Sanctuary Gate." He noticed Mai and beamed. "And you bring with you one of the esteemed Roku Warriors! Of course, where would we be without the protection of the brave men and women in your ranks?"
Toph shook her fist at him. "All right, all right! Enough with the flattery." Aang wondered how long she would last before her first outburst. To his surprise, she managed to hold back from knocking down the doors while they waited outside. He shared a glance with Mai, who rolled her eyes. "What was the whole deal with your soldiers blocking off the gate? The refugees were cornered there and would've died if I didn't do anything."
A frown crossed Fong's face. "They weren't ordered to open them. It is an unfortunate necessity, but with the attack we couldn't risk waterbenders infiltrating our walls during the attack." He ran his fingers through his beard, pausing for a moment to consider his words. "You saved a lot of lives last night, but at what cost? What if some of the enemy got through? Any damage they do to our city or its people is on your hands."
Toph seethed. "It's worth it. I wasn't going to stand by and let those people die."
"I'm with Toph," Aang said without hesitating. "I'll take responsibility for whatever happens."
"As will the Roku Warriors," said Mai, surprising Aang. "I plan to withdraw six from the Sanctuary Gates to work here, in the city. I hope you do not object." Something about the way she spoke to Fong and Wu seemed much different from how she spoke to her friends, and it was a side to her that Aang didn't know from his world, if that Mai even had it.
Fong sighed. "Very well." Toph leaned back in her chair, satisfied, and he peered over his map, eyes resting on the Fire Nation. "You mentioned previous contact with King Long Feng. Might I ask how recently that was?"
"Sometime during the summer," Aang replied, curious as to the direction of his conversation. "It was… something of a confrontation."
"I see," Fong replied. "So you wouldn't be opposed to confronting him again?"
Aang furrowed his brow. "Not if it couldn't be avoided. Why?"
"Though he left Ba Sing Se five years ago and established Jie Duan from a humble town, his influence continues to be felt in this city," he said. "Some of the Dai Li still remain loyal to him - his eyes watching and ears listening in on our councils and ministries. He was a sneaky, ambitious man, you see, and controlled this city and our king with paper and coin and an iron fist. As an advisor to the king, Long Feng kept all knowledge of the war from him and forbade its mention within the city walls." Well, that explained the Dai Li's conspicuous absence in the war room. "And the Council of Five is of the belief that he now has the ear of Grand Secretariat Wu."
"You could have told the king of the war's existence yourself, you know," Aang pointed out. "But you didn't. It took Bumi's intervention to do that."
Fong stumbled over his words for a moment. "Well, yes, we could have. Of course. But Long Feng was a powerful man who practically raised King Kuei. Any words against Long Feng would have had any one of us swiftly disappearing. So we focused our efforts on the war instead."
Toph kicked her feet up on the table. "So what, you think this Long Feng guy is gonna try to take over Ba Sing Se again?"
"The former King Bumi was the one who scared him off. But since we haven't seen nor heard from Bumi in these five years, we fear Long Feng is going to try to come back."
Aang weighed his options, getting an idea of where he was going with this. If it was true and Long Feng did have Wu wrapped around his finger, that would explain her reluctance about the lunar eclipse plan. But then again, she raised a good point about it in the first place. "I don't know where Bumi is. I told you that."
"I understand that," Fong said. "But we have a request for you, Avatar."
"And what is that?"
He picked up one of the earthen figurines, one that looked oddly like a Dai Li agent, and rolled it between his fingers. "Learn what you can from the Grand Secretariat. Gain her trust and report to the Council of Five anything you learn of Long Feng or his machinations."
"Fine," he said, mulling it over for just a moment. He didn't know what he would learn, if anything, about Long Feng's influence. He remembered what Wu told him about the black widow mantis and its five claws - a warning about the Council of Five? "We'll report anything we learn. Is there anything else you need from me today, or any other information about Wu you can offer?"
Fong offered a grin of triumph. "That would be all," he said. "Thank you, Avatar Aang."
Aang told Toph and Mai to hold back their questions until they got back to the house where they could discuss everything in privacy, but as soon as they walked through the door they found Azula and Zuko waiting for them, seated around the central dining table before Toph could even open her mouth.
"You went to the palace?" Azula asked, eyes narrowed in accusation. "Why didn't you bring me?"
"I figured you two were training," Aang said. "Besides, after our talk with Fong yesterday I wasn't sure how receptive he would be to having you and Zuko around…"
Azula stood. "What? Don't be preposterous. I may have had one little outburst but it's no reason to exclude me from something like that!"
Aang put up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to exclude you from anything. I promise."
She crossed her arms and turned up her nose in an imperious way that reminded him of Princess Azula. "A simple apology isn't good enough - get on your knees and beg forgiveness."
Aang couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Yeah, right."
Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed at his sister. "Let it go, Azula. What did we miss, anyway?"
"Aang promised to spy on Wu for the Council," Toph said, picking at her ear.
"I didn't," Aang responded quickly. "Well, sort of. But I don't plan to follow through. They seem opposed to each other and I want to figure out why. I don't want to take any sides yet until we get the big picture."
"Spoken like an airbender trying to run away from his issues," Toph said.
Aang frowned. "Not really. It's more like an earthbender's approach - neutral jing. Waiting and listening for the right moment."
Toph laughed. "Don't argue with your master about different kinds of jing! But fine, point made." She pet Sabi when the lemur coiled around her head. "Anyway, didn't you say that guy Long Feng killed Jet in your world? If he's really siding with Wu then I don't want anything to do with her. But those generals really annoy me, too, so I'm not a fan of either side."
"Not taking sides at all? Who's the airbender now?" Aang asked, sticking out his tongue at her. She punched him in the arm in response.
"Long Feng?" Zuko asked. "What's he doing?"
Aang explained the details of their meeting with Fong and both firebenders rubbed their chins in identical poses deep in thought. Azula was first to speak. "Did you trust the generals in your world?"
"They weren't as involved in leadership of the city," Aang said. "It was all Long Feng. Once we exposed him and he got thrown in prison we started working more closely with the generals, but some of them were different. Fong wasn't part of the Council of Five then. But it didn't really matter, anyway - once Azula took over the city she threw them all in prison, too. And in my world Wu didn't have anything to do with Ba Sing Se; she was just a fortuneteller I met once in a village far from here."
"What are you all talking about?" Mai asked, leaning against the wall nearest to the door.
Aang's stomach dropped - he had forgotten she was there and let his defenses down. He scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Uh, well… It's a long story..."
"Aang's from another world," Azula said, waving her hand dismissively. "One where I'm evil, Zuzu's a traitor to the Fire Nation, and you and I were best friends until I killed you for betraying me too. Old news."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Okay then," she said, blinking as her only other reaction. "Carry on."
Zuko looked at his sister and cringed at her explanation. "I'll fill you in on the details later, Mai." He crossed his arms and looked back at Aang. "So let's just find your friend Bumi, then?"
Aang shrugged. "I don't even know where to start. He could be anywhere - Bumi's a mad genius and I wouldn't put anything past him."
"There's a chance he could be evil, too," Toph said. "You never know."
"No way," said Aang. "Bumi's Bumi." There was no chance Bumi was capable of anything like that - he hoped the former king of Omashu was another constant in this world, just like Long Feng's deviousness seemed to be. He turned to Mai, remembering something else that had come up from their meeting with Fong. "Mai, you said you're going to recall some of your warriors here, into the city?"
"Yeah," she responded. "That was mostly to get Fong to stop complaining."
"Can I ask for your help?" he asked. "You and the other Roku Warriors?"
She shrugged. "We're allies with the Avatar, always."
He smiled. "Great. I want you to do what you can to make sure Wu and the Council of Five are telling the truth. Sneak in on their war meetings, follow the Dai Li. Make sure they're not doing anything like meeting in secret underground facilities and brainwashing people. Report to any of us whenever you think it's safe to. All of us have to be careful in this city - never let your guard down."
"Sure thing," she said, nodding. Mai stood up straight, pulled her hands out of her pockets, and turned to Zuko. "I should get going then - I need to send a message to my warriors at Sanctuary Gate. Want to come with me? You can tell me more about this mysterious other world where I'm dead." She gave him a hint of a smile. "Sounds dreary."
Zuko grinned back. "Of course."
"Thanks, Mai," Aang said, waving them off. "Mai sure isn't bothered by that, huh?"
Azula crossed her arms again. "I don't think anything's capable of bothering that girl." She held up a rolled up scroll to him tied with a white ribbon. "Anyway, this letter arrived while you were gone. It's Kanna. She's in the city with Piandao and wants to meet you later tonight."
Suki snapped open the paper fan, letting Sokka admire the artwork adorning it. The artist had painted a fierce tigerdillo on lavender paper hunting through a misty bamboo forest, while a matching fan depicted a dragon instead, its whiskers coiling and becoming part of the mist. "What do you think? Are these a good replacement?" she asked, leaning toward him with a coy smile.
"They look pretty, but also useless," he said. "You have your bladed fans at home."
"These aren't meant to be weapons, dummy," she said, snapping them shut. The smile hadn't gone away, though. "We have bags at home, too, but you still insisted on getting that new one because you liked how it looked."
Sokka patted the green satchel on his hip. "But it was a good deal and satchels are always useful."
"You made a point of making it match your new clothes."
"So? Again, I stress: I have an eye for a good deal."
"Got that from your Gran-Gran, didn't you?" Suki teased him but realized what she said a moment later, her smile faltering. "Oh. Sorry."
Sokka felt his mood darken and scowled. "Don't mention her to me." He didn't want to ruminate on the fact that she left him at the Avatar's mercy anymore.
After they paused, the merchant they had been standing in front of looked back and forth between them, an array of multicolored fans displaying all sorts of painted scenes splayed out behind him. "So… you two kids gonna buy anything?"
"No," Sokka said, walking ahead to the next stall.
The Paper Lantern neighborhood was well-named; streets crammed with vendors lined this whole section of Ba Sing Se and paper lanterns lit all of it, organized by color. This part of the city was particularly known for its bazaar where paper artisans peddled all kinds of products: stationery, scrollwork, pinwheels, kites, lanterns in all sorts of strange swirling designs and shapes, fans, folded artwork, and more. Sokka had his eye on a hanging wall scroll inscribed with poems about the sea in delicate calligraphy, but had to remind himself that it was something his grandmother would have liked and she wasn't there. Being in the Lower Ring, they had no sense of privacy and the bazaar's twisting alleyways felt cramped with people, but there was a sense of livelihood and plain fun about the neighborhood.
"Ghashiun, hey!" Suki called, squeezing through the crowd. The sandbender waited on the corner, leaning against a stall that sold paper versions of the Earth Kingdom insignia set on folding screens. Sokka's bad mood deepened upon seeing him.
"Anything?" Ghashiun asked, moving only his head in their direction when they approached. He still masked part of his face with cloth, leaving only his eyes and nose visible. Sokka supposed that was a step up.
"No," Sokka said. Scattered around this part of the city were a handful of potential rendezvous points Ghashiun knew where they could contact Katara and Yue - spots where Ba Sing Se's underground connected with the city above. That meant they had to hang around wells, a fountain, and multiple sewer grates to wait for her, but apparently they hadn't made it through yet. "And a little 'hello' would be nice. You know, some respect for the people you're stuck with."
"You've done nothing to deserve it yet."
Sokka clenched his fist and shook it at him, but Suki grabbed his arm with both hands. "You know who you're talking to, right?"
"C'mon, Sokka," she said. "He does know. Just don't get into a fight or you'll jeopardize the mission."
Sokka bristled. "No, if he wants to say something to me he can say it man to man."
"What, gonna ignore me 'cause I'm a woman?"
"A girl, but yes."
Suki stomped her foot, her arms rigid at her sides and face set in anger. "Are you serious? After all this time you're still going to be like that?"
Sokka scowled again. "You forget your place."
At that, Ghashiun stood up straight, glaring at him. "No, you forget yours. Where we are, your status means nothing right now."
Suki crossed her arms. "Funny how you become a jerk again the moment Katara's not around."
Sokka spotted sand crawling up Ghashiun's leg and recognized the subtle threat. "I respect your sister," the sandbender said. "Not you."
"Yeah, well, she's never gonna like you," Sokka said. "She may have used her feminine wiles on you but that doesn't mean anything." He wriggled his fingers at Ghashiun with the words 'feminine wiles.' At that, the Si Wong native rolled his eyes, turned around, and headed back toward their apartment down a crooked road lined with blue lanterns.
"I'm gonna go check another sewer grate," Suki said, wandering off in a different direction. "See you."
Sokka watched her go, vague feelings of regret churning in his stomach, but said nothing.
It seemed Earth Kingdom officials knew little about an Avatar forgoing worldly possessions because Aang's bedroom was filled with all sorts of decadence he had no care for. His bed was made in layers of silken sheets in varying shades of Earth Kingdom green, still mussed up from his earlier nap. A bamboo chest sat in the corner, atop which he found vials of multicolored liquids that Aang suspected to be perfumes. Opulent robes lined with jade or opals or pearls hung inside of a wardrobe in another corner next to a rack with matching hats on top and several pairs of shoes on bottom. Next to the circular window overlooking the most beautiful parts of the koi ponds, Aang came face to face with his own reflection in a claw-footed mirror that depicted puzzlement; he had no idea what to make of all this.
A knock at the door saved him from further deliberations. "You can come in," he bid them.
He saw Azula in the mirror when she opened the door, leaning against its frame. "Your room is the same size as mine. Color me surprised, I thought the Avatar would get special treatment."
"I don't need much space," he said, turning to face her with arms spread. "I don't need any of this stuff. This is special treatment."
She strode over to the wardrobe, running a finger along the sleeve of a formal robe. "Well, you might need some of this for the feast in two days."
He grinned. "I dunno. I don't think I've ever dressed up for something nice like that."
Azula chuckled. "No, surely not." She glanced at the mirror and then back at him. "Sokka wasn't there at the battle. I'm sure you noticed."
Aang scratched the back of his head. His hair was long enough now to run his fingers through - he'd have to look into cutting it before the feast. "I did… but I had something else on my mind. Is that what you came here to talk about?"
Azula nodded and then examined her fingernails. "I know you did. But don't you find that suspicious? And another thing, Katara and the other girl were wearing Earth Kingdom clothes."
He shrugged. "Sokka's more of a strategist type, even in this world. He was probably coordinating the attack somewhere on one of those ships." He kicked at the corner of a throw rug in the center of the bedroom, noticing the green vine pattern that matched the drapes. "And there's still a lot I don't know about Katara. Maybe she disguised herself because she was already at the gate for the surprise attack. Maybe she just likes green in this world, who knows?"
She flipped her wavy hair over her shoulder, looking in the mirror as she brushed it with her fingers but stared at Aang's reflection. "Maybe. But you failed to tell me about bloodbending, too. Is that something she can do in your world? What would I have done to counter that if you weren't there? I didn't even know bending like that existed."
"I'm sorry," he said. "She can do it in my world, but hated that power. I didn't know she could use it here. Like I said, I don't know this Katara and I don't know what she's capable of." And without a full moon, too… He frowned, still unsure of what to make of that. He had to think of a counter. Dwelling on it too long disturbed him.
"No, I think you're fully aware of what she's capable of but you're just blind to it," she said, turning to him. "This isn't the same Katara you know, not the same Katara you love. She's evil."
He sat back against the bed, arms crossed and suddenly interested in his shoes. "Remember what I told you right after you guys all learned everything about me? About how I thought, despite everything, there was a piece deep inside of Princess Azula that could be saved?" He looked back up at her. "I have to give Princess Katara that chance, too. Even if there's still so much I need to learn about her."
"And what if she's so much worse than me?" Azula asked. "What if Katara is completely irredeemable? What will you do then?" Her voice rose in volume with every question - not shouting quite yet, but he sensed a note of desperation in her tone and wasn't sure what to make of that.
"I don't know yet," he admitted. "But I have to believe."
"If she's worse, a monster without a shred of good in her, you can run away," she said, throwing her arm out wide. "Back to your world where you can fall into her arms and everything will be okay and you'll be fighting to the death with me again!"
He stood up, fists clenched but his chest clenched tighter. "What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," she said, eyes wet but not quite yet tearing. Her voice shook with the effort to keep it steady. "Have you even given any thought to what might happen to this world once you return home? That we'll go on living without you in it, perhaps even without an Avatar at all?" He thought he saw a hint of something wild behind the amber of her eyes. "That one day, you're going to leave behind Zuko, Sabi, Appa, and Toph? What about me?"
"Azula, I…"
"What am I saying?" she asked, rubbing away a tear before it could fall. "Of course you wouldn't miss us. You'd be returning to versions of us - or rather, them - that you know better. Fought with longer. Love like a family."
"Don't be ridiculous," he said. His voice was hard enough, his face stern enough, to draw her gaze squarely to his. "There is no Sabi in my world. We had a lemur named Momo instead."
Her mouth hung open a fraction of an inch and for a moment he relished the fact that he managed to make her look dumbfounded, and then she laughed. Softly at first, but then it quickly progressed to the point where tears fell and she clutched at her stomach, doubled over. It was the most genuine laughter he had ever heard from Azula, and it was infectious, because soon enough he found himself doubled over in mirth just like hers. After what felt like minutes where he could barely breathe, she managed to form words. "So Sabi is new, huh? Guess I should appreciate her more if she'll be what keeps you here."
He put a hand on her shoulder, clutching it in what he hoped was a gesture of comfort as they both sat on the edge of the bed. "I don't know what's going to happen," he said. "I don't know when or how or if I'll ever be able to go back. But I want you to know that I've come to treasure my time here." He grasped her hand instead and smiled. "You and Zuko and all the others have become just as much a part of my family as the others. When - and if - that day comes where I have to go back, I don't know if there's going to be a version of me left behind or the next Avatar in the cycle or no one at all. But I want you, Zuko, Toph, Sabi, and Appa at my side the whole way there, okay?"
She squeezed his hand once and then pulled it away, standing up again and going to the door. "There's no question about that," she said. She took a deep breath and then she was Azula again. "Well… I ought to be off to bed. I'd love to come to your meeting with the old bats but I have no desire to stay up through the whole night. Zuzu's probably in the main room waiting for you."
He smiled and stood. "You're right. I better get going. Good night, Azula."
"Good night, Aang."
For the first time, he let himself consider the idea of a future in this world and what it might hold if he never had a chance to go back home.
More than once, Katara wondered if the infiltration mission into the tunnels beneath Ba Sing Se had really been a good idea or if she had inadvertently doomed them all. She never would have made it through without Ghashiun's maps and directions - there were so many crisscrossing tunnels and caverns that it was a wonder anyone managed to map it at all, even if the path to the inner walls of the city was the only part he knew. Some tunnels coiled around in circles before branching off into different paths. Some were wide enough for Katara to walk abreast with two dozen men and others narrow enough that they were forced to proceed single file. Some descended into depths with pits so black and so deep that when Katara threw a stone she never heard it hit the bottom while others had sharp turns to dead ends. They had come across caverns and wide open chambers so high that Katara was certain they'd see sunlight but it turned out they were much deeper underground than she had previously thought.
They kept track of time with candles and stopped once to rest through the night in a chamber big enough to house the entire invading force, some three hundred soldiers.
Katara knew that the city was built atop ancient cities that came before it, but she never would have guessed that the precursors to Ba Sing Se spread beyond the inner walls that stood today. Where swathes of farmland extended in fields up above (hopefully, if Ghashiun's maps were correct), they came across ruins deep below. Some of the tunnels had been carved into hallways, their masonry holding up after all these years. They found statues without faces or any distinguishing features, worn away by time. A few times they passed by artifacts made of gold or other precious metals, some rusted away, discarded or lost long ago. One goblet encrusted with a few pieces of glowing crystal caught Katara's eye until one of her soldiers pilfered it like they did all the rest. They even discovered aqueducts that still ran with clean water from a source they couldn't see, a welcome find nonetheless.
They marched mostly in silence or uneasy whispers. Early on, one soldier tried to sing, but his echoes crooned back to him and no one liked the sound it made against the stone so no one tried again. In one massive cavern, they came across the skeleton of a temple abandoned long ago like everything else down here, with three minarets still standing proud while the fourth had fallen some years ago, crumbled in a pile in front of it. Several soldiers stopped to pray and meditate and bend - anything to keep from feeling like they'd never emerge from the depths. Yue led them in prayer, because out of everyone she still seemed the least disturbed.
Katara didn't blame them. They still had a ways to go.
Sokka looked down into the shadows in the well, listening to the water babbling down the city's underground waterways far below. This one was situated in a square right outside the apartment Ghashiun had managed to secure for them, a ramshackle thing with only two rooms and one iron bed with a ratty mattress Sokka suspected might be infested with some sort of bedroaches. The bed was for Suki (who, in light of Sokka's earlier observations, probably didn't sleep in it anyway), so he had no desire to return and hunker down in the same room as the sandbender for the night.
"This isn't what I expected from the Lower Ring," a voice behind him said. Sokka turned around so sharply that he lost balance for a moment and feared for an even shorter moment that he was going to fall into the well. But the speaker was only Ghashiun, and Sokka cursed himself for almost waterbending as a reflex. "There is beauty here." The square where they had found themselves intersected with the blue lantern district and the red lantern district, casting the sandbender in soft purple light.
Sokka responded with a steely gaze from his single eye. "What do you want?"
Ghashiun looked up at the sky. Sokka only saw a handful of stars despite it being a clear night. "I miss the desert moon," he said, removing the part of his mask that covered his mouth. "It kept me company on many cold nights."
"The desert's not far away. You can go back," Sokka said.
The sandbender turned back to Sokka. His eyes reminded the waterbender of beetles, dark and shiny. "You still don't trust me."
Sokka scoffed. "Duh. Why should I?" He paused. "Better yet, why do you trust us? My sister?"
"When I met her, it was shortly after I stopped hearing from my own sister," he said, leaning against the stone well. "At a place called the Misty Palms Oasis, where I had stopped on my way back from here after I was supposed to see Nagi." At Sokka's questioning look, he added, "My sister. We met beneath the city when she could sneak away from her Dai Li training, communicating with letters otherwise."
"Aren't they like…" Sokka drew in a fraction closer, lowering his voice. "The secret police in this city? Why would she want to join them?"
"Yes, but they also protect and preserve the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se," he said. "The history and art, the music and the stories. That part appealed to her more, since the culture of our own people has changed much in recent years."
"How so?"
Ghashiun twirled sand through his fingers like a piece of string. "Those who don't flock here flocked to the desert. Where there's no water there are no waterbenders. And where there are many different peoples there are also many different cultures. Some were bound to get swallowed up, though much of it changed to something new, too, if you ask me."
"Ah."
"Anyway, Nagi didn't want the same to happen for the rest of the Earth Kingdom, so she came here. But one day she stopped answering, and on the crescent moon when we were supposed to meet she never showed. My mother died years ago from sun fever and our father has always been absent, so she was all I had. This was two years ago."
"Let me guess," said Sokka. "Katara fed you her sob story about how our mother is gone, too, and you ate it up."
Ghashiun shrugged. "She also helped me beat up some guys from a rival tribe that tried to mug me, but yeah," he said.
"Hate to break it to you, buddy, but she milks that for all it's worth with anyone who'll listen," he said. "And since she is who she is," he was careful not to say 'a princess,' in case someone listened from the shadows, "that's just about everyone."
"Even so, the feelings behind it are genuine."
"Maybe, at one point," Sokka said. "When we were kids. But that's ancient history now."
"She also mentioned a brother," Ghashiun continued. "A brave warrior, a brilliant strategist, and creative inventor who exiled himself shortly before that. A brother that she always wanted to return home so they could be a family again."
"She can stroke my ego all she wants - and really, she could - but that doesn't change what she did. She's the reason we're not a family anymore." He stood and turned back to the well, leaning over it so that his whale tooth necklace dangled over the abyss. "When I try to picture my mom's face, all I can see is Katara because I blame her for what happened. She alienated our grandmother until the day of my ice dodging trial and she's the reason our dad stopped at least pretending to love us. But she doesn't see it that way. It's all a game to her; some sick desire to see everyone wrapped around her finger." He clenched his fists, pressing his knuckles against the stone so hard that they turned white. He didn't know why he poured this all out to Ghashiun, but it came easier than he would have thought.
He wanted to see Gran, to talk to her just once. But that was impossible now. She had sided with the Avatar.
After all that, Ghashiun's face remained impassive. A gentle breeze brushed by the lanterns above, causing the blues and reds and purples to dance and morph together until the flame inside died out, casting them both in darkness. "Whether or not that's true, it's hard not to follow her. She calls me a friend and this path will lead me back to my sister." He started walking back toward the apartment, but Sokka's following observation made him pause.
"You love my sister, don't you?" He supposed he should have felt angry, protective, but he couldn't muster that much emotion over it.
"Not in the way you think," Ghashiun responded. "As a friend, perhaps. A leader, more likely."
"Well, she's just using you."
"Then I will use her in return. And you, if I must."
Sokka shrugged and followed after him with a yawn, deciding he may as well head to bed too. "Then I'm glad we're finally being honest with each other."
The Lower Ring was exactly how Aang remembered it.
Buildings and people crammed too closely together. Children ran unaccompanied through the winding, uneven streets even at this time of night, faces gaunt with hunger. Stewpots boiled on the sides of the street tended to by cooks with subdued smiles who handed food to hopeful people, mixing the scents of spices with the pungent stench of spoiled vegetables and something worse. Even so, Aang preferred this ring to the Middle and Upper ones; he didn't have the feeling he was being watched.
He supposed that was the reason why Kanna and Piandao had wanted to meet them here.
Aang wasn't sure where he was supposed to go, exactly, but he was spared long hours of fruitless searching when a little old woman hooked her arm in his, leading him along different streets with surprising strength. "Come along, dearie," she said, and Aang recognized her as Kanna even with the tattered shawl covering her head.
She led Aang and Zuko to a tiny ground floor apartment, ushering them inside while she looked up and down the street before ducking in after them. She lowered her shawl and smiled. "Glad to see you kids got into the city without incident."
Aang looked around, though there wasn't much to see in the threadbare room. Piandao sat on a bed in the corner, his sword hidden from sight, but he stood when they entered and exchanged bows with Aang and Zuko. "I hope you two are well."
"Same to you, Master," said Aang. "Did your wound heal okay?"
Piandao put a hand on his shoulder where Katara had impaled him. "Thanks to Kanna. As expected from the best healer known to the world."
Kanna handed both boys cups of green tea she had brewed and bustled around the apartment, going in and out of the other room that Aang assumed was her bedroom to fetch cushions for them to sit on as they talked. "Apologies for the mess," she said. "We only just arrived in the city this morning." Despite that, Aang could already see signs of homey touches: an unadorned vase of flowers sat on the shuttered window sill and a Pai Sho board had already been set up underneath it, half played.
"Mess?" Piandao asked, crossing his arms with a wry smile. "You've been sweeping and cleaning since we got here."
"Why don't you come to the Upper Ring with us?" Zuko asked, sharing a glance with Aang. "We have plenty of room."
"I'd rather avoid unnecessary scrutiny," said Kanna. "This is just fine for us."
"How'd you get through so quickly?" Aang asked. "I thought the Sanctuary Gate attack had them temporarily closing the city to incoming refugees."
Kanna gave him a smile that was almost cheeky. "As I've told you, we have our connections."
"What? How?" Zuko asked.
"The White Lotus," Aang observed. "You mentioned it before, back when you told us to go find the Astronomer."
Piandao joined them on the floor, drinking from his teacup with the utmost poise. "Indeed."
"Did you see my grandchildren in the attack?" Kanna asked. She gently lowered to her knees, letting out a sigh once she situated herself and drank her tea.
"I fought Katara," Aang said, trying to keep his voice steady. It still felt so strange to say. "She used bloodbending on us, but we managed to hold her off long enough for soldiers to arrive and fight back. They withdrew."
Kanna looked into her tea. "Bloodbending, you say? It is not a full moon. She has improved." She locked eyes with him again. "And Sokka?"
"Not there," Aang replied. "Azula thinks he's up to something. But that's possible? To bloodbend without a full moon?"
"With enough practice, yes," she said. "And natural talent. Katara has both and the tutelage of the one who created the art."
"Hama," Aang said. A chill crept up and down his spine and all three of them looked at him.
Zuko furrowed his brow. "Who?"
"You know her," Kanna said. "I suppose I'm not surprised. I taught Katara how to waterbend until she met Hama and decided bloodbending was the secret to power and control."
Aang scowled. "Even in my world, Hama was evil."
"She was my first friend when I journeyed to the South Pole to marry my husband. And for a long time, my only friend," Kanna continued. "She was one of the first to speak out against the oppressive rules imposed upon women in our tribes, and the most outspoken. She and I practiced our waterbending together in secret. Naturally, by the time Katara was old enough, she took a liking to Hama. By this point Hama had discovered bloodbending and taught it to me, even though I was horrified by it. She thought Katara should learn it, too, and I disagreed, and from then on I was no longer her teacher."
"To be fair, imposing your will upon another is no less horrifying than some of the other things the bending arts are capable of," Piandao pointed out. "Firebending and earthbending are capable of just as much destruction." He looked to Aang. "And I am sure airbending is, as well, though no airbenders to my knowledge have ever explored that side of it."
"They wouldn't have," Aang said, frowning. Though Aang was unsure if he himself was capable of it or not, at this point. "But I guess it all depends on how the bender would use it. I've seen my fair share of what people could do."
"Sokka had drawn the same conclusion," said Kanna. "Which is why I taught him how to do it, too, after his exile."
Aang almost dropped his tea. "Sokka's a bloodbender?"
"Not a very good one, I must admit," Kanna said, shrugging. "But yes, he convinced me. I figured he should know, just in case. I trusted him not to abuse it." She sighed again. "Right, then. If Sokka is indeed up to something, then we will pass it along."
"To your contacts," Aang surmised. "Who are they? What is the White Lotus?"
Kanna smiled. "A Pai Sho piece and the symbol upon that headband you used to wear."
"A secret society," Piandao explained once Aang and Zuko gave annoyed looks at Kanna's words. "One dedicated to the pursuit of balance and shared knowledge between all the nations, regardless of borders. Though they even set me up with a job as a calligrapher in the Paper Lantern District. How about that?"
Zuko leaned forward. "Really? So they can help us? Where are they?"
"Is Bumi a member?" Aang remembered, years ago, when he overheard a conversation between Bumi and Master Jeong Jeong as they prepared to fight Ozai during the comet. He had a feeling they knew each other before the battle, but there was never any time to really talk.
"The White Lotus secrets are not for the uninitiated," Kanna said. "We are only telling you this much because you are the Avatar. And besides, I am still new, so there is still much I do not know myself."
Aang put down his teacup. "But it's as you said, I'm the Avatar. No one's more dedicated to peace and balance than I am!"
Kanna calmly sipped from her teacup and placed it down, folding her hands in her lap. "The White Lotus Society has decided you cannot be trusted yet."
Aang felt his face get hot. "What? Why?"
"You are rash and impulsive," she told him, her eyes hard as ice. "You kidnapped Sokka from me after we agreed you would hand him back over to my care. You stole from Piandao. The two of us may have decided to look past those deeds but the White Lotus has deemed you too much of a wild card."
Aang had to squeeze his own hands to keep from trembling with anger. "You told them all that? What else did you tell them?"
"The secret of your otherworldly circumstance is safe with us, do not worry," said Piandao, who looked on edge. "But even the spiritualists among them have noticed the effects of the unbalanced Spirit World, the merging between them. They see it as you neglecting your duties."
Zuko frowned. "Can't you bring us to meet them so Aang can explain? It's not his fault. We'll back him up!"
Aang scowled. "I told you both why I did those things. It was so I could help Sokka see that he was on the wrong side. And now I have to do the same for Katara!"
"You cannot force redemption upon anybody," Kanna said. "It takes time and patience. It's an uneven road different for everyone. The walker may often stumble upon it, even turn away, but it is a road only they can choose to travel. And it's a road you need to walk for yourself, Avatar Aang." For the first time as he looked at the old woman, he found her so unlike Uncle Iroh that it made his heart ache for the man with the kindly smile and silly antics that concealed his gentle wisdom. Kanna, on the other hand, was more calculating than he ever was. "I will support your journey," she continued. "For your destiny is forever intertwined with that of my grandchildren and your other friends, perhaps doubly so."
"And what about your son?" Aang asked, his face dark. His head hurt with exhaustion. "Emperor Hakoda is your son, isn't he? Is it my destiny to defeat him, too?"
Kanna frowned. "I think you have taken on that destiny from another. But I cannot say for sure." No one responded for a moment, and she took advantage of the lull in conversation to stand and collect their empty teacups. "It is late and I am tired," she said. "We should all get some rest."
"Thanks for the tea," Aang said, finding that any animosity he had towards them had drained away to be replaced by a desire to sleep. He felt so, so tired. "And the update. What do we do next?"
"Gain the trust of the White Lotus," said Piandao. "They may have an assignment for you in the coming days." He walked over to the corner of the room with the Pai Sho board and plucked a piece from it, pressing it to Zuko's palm.
"A White Lotus tile," Zuko said, rolling it between his fingers. "You know, it's a piece in my uncle's favorite gambit."
"I'm familiar with the strategy," Piandao said. "I don't know how they'll deliver their assignment to you but keep an eye out. And be safe, my students."
By the time Aang and Zuko returned home, it was well after midnight. Aang dropped into bed without bothering to take off his clothes, his mind swirling from all the day's meetings and conversations and sides and secrets.
He fell asleep before he could deliberate who he could trust the most.
Author's Notes: If nobody realized, Ghashiun is the same sandbender who kidnapped Appa in the show. Looking forward to comments and reviews!
