Disclaimer: All rights belong to Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, and all the men and women that created the A:TLA show, books, and comics. I take no credit, and I do not mean to break any copyright rules. This is simply a work of fiction made for enjoyment. No money is being made. The lyrics are from the song "Ready, Aim, Fire" by Imagine Dragons
Rating: General Audiences. Warning: some scenes contain dark themes and minor violence
Author's Note: My version of the Tales of Ba Sing Se. Don't worry about the missing Iroh segment - I have plans for that scene later
Chapter 13: Ba Sing Se
Off in the distance
There is resistance
Bubbling up and festering
Katara punches the rock forward. It slides into the wall and shatters into dust. She turns to see Toph smiling.
"You're finally getting the hang of it," Toph says. "Now do it ten times more."
Katara wipes the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand and repeats the training sequence again: summon up a rock, punch it forward. Behind her, she can hear Toph experimenting with a piece of metal.
As silence falls after the last rock shatters into the wall, she hears the crunch of footsteps. Katara turns to see Aang and Sokka approaching.
"How's the training going?" Aang asks. "I brought you a fresh water skin."
"Thanks," Katara says, taking it gratefully. She summons up a rock seat for herself and takes a huge drink. "It's going much better now. Toph says I'm picking earthbending up really quickly."
"Cool!" Sokka crosses his arms. "Aang and I want to hit the city, go exploring. Do you want to come with?"
Katara shakes her head. "Toph and I still have some training to do. We'll probably go out on our own later. But you two have fun." She suddenly frowns. "Hey, where's Suki?"
"She and the other warriors went out earlier." Sokka's voice has a strange tone to it, but Katara doesn't ask about it. At least, not now.
"Don't train too hard!" Aang calls out as he and Sokka head back into the inner city. As a reward for saving the city from the Fire Nation, they were given a nice house not too far from the palace in the inner city. However, as the houses in the city are densely packed, Katara and Toph have to do their earthbending training in the outer wall, where the only thing they're disturbing is rice fields.
The man who had led them to the house yesterday after the battle had also warned them that they might not want to make sure much commotion; as safe as Ba Sing Se is, enemies of the Avatar are everywhere.
"I don't know why they're so eager to be in the city," Toph grumbles. "It's just a bunch of walls and rules. They'll get sick of it in a few days."
Katara understands why Toph might think that, but for now she's just glad to be somewhere safe and secure - and she's glad to have a bed to sleep on for once.
She stands up and rolls up her sleeves. "Alright, Toph," she says, trying to change the subject. "What am I learning next?"
Toph begins demonstrating the next move. Katara watches attentively and then repeats it. The first couple tries are rough, but eventually she picks up on it. Toph had been right: once Katara could feel the earth, really feel it, it became much easier to work with it. The biggest difference between earth and water is that water wants to move. Water is constantly moving on its own, so it's not too hard to simply change the direction of that movement. Earth, however, doesn't move naturally on its own. You really have to force it.
And Katara likes the challenge. Concentrating on her earthbending keeps her mind off the others issues - like where Azula and her friends might be right now, whether Azula's threat to Zuko was real or not, and, of course, the ever-present threat of the Fire Lord and their eventual, inevitable, battle.
"That's good for today," Toph finally says. The sun is high in the sky, marking midday. The morning had gone by fast. "Let's grab something to eat and see what trouble the boys are getting themselves into."
They grab a transport from the outer wall into the inner city. As they step out of the transport, an amazing smell wafts through the air and fills their nostrils.
"Mmmm. What is that? It smells heavenly!"
Toph is smiling. "Dumplings. That's one of the few things I've missed from my old life. Street vendors have the best dumplings." She grabs Katara's hand. "Let's go get some. You have to try them."
Katara is a bit surprised by how open Toph suddenly seems to be, so she just smiles and lets the younger girl lead her down the narrow, packed streets, following the aroma.
"There's a vendor!" Katara says, pointing to one as they walk by.
Toph just shakes her head. "That's not the one. I can smell good dumplings from a mile away."
They finally find the vendor, hidden almost in an alleyway. There's only a few people in line, and it moves fast.
"Two plates of dumplings," Toph says, sliding a silver coin over the counter. The old man working at the counter smiles and accepts the money.
A few minutes later, they're walking through the city again, this time with hot food. Katara finds that the dumplings taste heavenly. She's glad she followed Toph's lead.
"I like travelling, but sometimes I miss the luxuries of city life," she admits. "This will be a nice break."
Toph doesn't look so convinced. "I'll be glad when we're back on the road," she says. "We need a proper place to practice earthbending."
They exit the bustling center of the city and start climbing stairs to the upper ring. The streets here are much cleaner and less packed, and the businesses here are spaced out, the goods displayed elegantly in windows.
A sign catches Katara's eye. She grabs Toph's arm.
"How do you feel about a girl's day out?" she asks.
Toph does not look convinced. "Do I have to?"
"Yes. You're covered in dirt. And we haven't had a proper bath in weeks."
"I call it a healthy coating of earth," Toph grumbles, but she allows Katara to lead her to the front door.
"The Fancy Lady's Day Spa," Katara reads. She claps her hands together. "This will be fun!"
"Sound like my kind of place," Toph says sarcastically. Katara chooses to ignore it.
"Are you ready for some serious pampering?"
"Just as long as they don't touch my feet."
They're led to a steaming bath first with water smelling like rose petals. As they settle in, the spa workers wrap up their hair in towels and cover their faces with cleansing masks (or "fancy mud" as Toph calls it). A cucumber over their eyes finishes the look. Katara relaxes, enjoying the feeling of weeks of grime being sucked out of her pores.
Toph entertains herself by blowing the mud around her mouth and eyes out, making herself look like an alien. The spa worker bringing them fresh towels gasps and shrieks. Katara looks over at Toph and they burst out laughing.
Next they're led to a sauna. Whenever the steam begins to dissipate, Toph kicks the floor and a stone hops out from the box and lands on the fire brazier. Katara flicks her wrist and a spray of water from a nearby basin splashes against the rock, causing a fresh spray of steam to fill the room.
After they redress, a couple spa workers give them a makeover with fancy face paints. When the two girls finally emerge back into the city, the clean air feeling fresh against their clean skin, Katara is pleased to see Toph smiling.
"That wasn't actually too bad," the younger girl admits. "Normally I'm not into that stuff, but I actually feel...girly."
"I'm glad," Katara says. "It's about time we did something fun together."
"You mean smashing rocks around isn't fun?"
They both laugh. Katara thinks that today is almost perfect. The weather is beautiful, she and Toph are finally bonding, she finally got the hang of earthbending, there's the blessed and rare quietness that comes with Sokka and Aang's absence (as much as she loves them, there are more than a few times when she wants to wring their necks), and they defeated Azula and the Fire Nation yesterday.
She wants today to be perfect, so she tries to shove the other issues to the back of her mind.
They reach a beautiful bridge that spans a small creek. A group of girls a couple years older than them walk past. One of the girls says, "Wow, great makeup."
"Thank you," Toph replies.
"-for a clown," the girl adds. Her friends laugh.
Katara puts her arm around Toph's shoulders. "Let's just ignore them."
"I think she looks cute," the girl continues. "Like the time we put a sweater on my pet poodlemonkey."
"Let's go, Toph," Katara repeats.
Toph shakes her arm off. "No, no - it was a good one," the girl replies. "Your pet poodlemonkey." Toph laughs fakely. "You know what else is a good one?"
Katara knows what's going to happen before Toph even moves her foot to stomp again the ground. The rocks of the bridge underneath the girls' feet drop down and the girls fall into the creek with cut-off shrieks.
Normally Toph's reaction would annoy Katara, but not today. Those girls got what they deserved. Katara stands over the side of the bridge and looks down at them. Then she wordlessly sends a wave of water to wash them downshore.
She jogs to catch up to Toph, who has continued walking. "Those girls don't know what they're talking about," she says.
"It's okay." Toph's voice is quieter than normal. "One of the good things about being blind is that I don't have to waste time worrying about my appearance. I don't care what I look like. I'm not looking for anyone's approval. I know who I am."
Katara feels touched by the admission. She lays a hand on Toph's shoulder. "That's what I really admire about you, Toph. You're so strong and confident and self-assured."
Toph sniffs.
"And I know it doesn't matter," Katara continues, "but you're really pretty."
"I am?"
"Yeah. You are."
Toph smiles slowly. "I'd return the compliment, but I don't know what you look like." They share a small laugh. "Thank you, Katara." She punches Katara's arm.
Katara rubs her arm, wincing a bit, but she's not mad. It's just Toph's way of showing affection.
"So," she says. "Should we go find the boys now? It's probably too late to keep them out of trouble, but maybe we can still bail them out."
"That sounds good. But let's not walk too fast. I'm enjoying the quiet."
The clanging of the gates closing behind him makes Zuko jump. He glances behind him and sees the guards standing emotionless at the doors. Then he turns back and faces the place that he's unfortunate enough to call home now: Boiling Rock prison.
The other inmates avoid him like the plague normally, except for Kodakah and a few of his friends. He remembers the first time he returned, after his infirmary stay. He had received a lot of suspicious looks. As he walks into the courtyard now, he feels like he's experiencing it all again.
"It must be nice," he hears a prisoner say to another, "being royalty and getting breaks from prison."
"I bet he's not even a prisoner here," the other retorts. "It's all a farce so he can sell the rebels out."
"Kodakah better watch his back or else he'll lose his head," another says.
Zuko ignores the taunts. He understands the thought behind them. The others think he was taken back to the palace. They have no idea what he really went through. What he was really used for.
He finds Kodakah surrounded by a small group of other prisoners who step away as soon as they see him. Kodakah approaches him and bows slightly.
"Glad to see you back in one piece," he says.
Zuko shakes his head. "You won't be so pleased when you hear what happened."
Kodakah dismisses the others and then lowers his voice so no one else can hear their conversation. "So where were you?"
"My sister took me." Zuko feels sick to his stomach as he remembers the scene in the canyon. Katara, dropping her water at the sight of him. Giving herself up without hesitation. Her brother and the boy with the arrow tattoo pledging to fight. The Earthbender girl forcing them to leave. "She used me to force the Avatar to surrender."
Kodakah sucks in a deep breath. "So the Fire Nation has the Avatar?"
Zuko nods miserably. "There was nothing I could do. Azula is too smart. She knows exactly what she's doing."
Kodakah watches Zuko closely. "I know you rescued her from your father's prison, but I can't imagine she would risk everything for you based on that. Unless there's something else…"
Zuko doesn't want to get into the story. He still feels so guilty about everything. But Kodakah's looking at him as if he can read right through him.
"We were close," is all Zuko says. "And you underestimate the Avatar. She would give herself up for anyone."
Kodakah strokes his beard. "Well, then, we'll just have to hope she can hold on until someone helps her. I assume she has allies."
Zuko nods. "I saw an Airbender and an Earthbender with her. And her brother."
"Good. They'll no doubt be trying to rescue her. And in the meantime, we need to work on an escape plan for you."
"What?" Zuko is taken completely by surprise.
"Your sister will just keep using you as a weapon against the Avatar. As long as you're within her grasp, you're a threat to the Avatar."
He has a point. Zuko feels like he deserves to be in prison for all that he's done, but it's not about him. It's about Katara.
It's always about Katara.
"We're on our own," Zuko says. "The others don't trust me."
Kodakah shakes his head. "We don't need them. The more people who know, the better the chance the guards hear about it. We'll figure it out ourselves."
Zuko hopes they can. For Katara's sake.
And although he doesn't feel like he deserves it after all he's done, he would do anything to see her face again.
Sokka and Aang walk through the city together. It's a massive city, filled with bustle and noise and so many people. Standing in the middle of it, Sokka feels like it could cover the whole world.
"You're pretty quiet today," Aang says as they walk. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Sokka quickly says. "Just tired. You know, from all my hero work and saving the Avatar yesterday."
"Yesterday was a pretty big day," Aang agrees. "I'm just glad we got Katara back."
Sokka is also glad they managed to rescue Katara. However, despite being safe for the first time in weeks and having just achieved a huge victory, he's actually quite depressed.
Sokka had visited Suki this morning before heading out with Aang. He wanted to take her through the city and spend time with her. She had said that she wanted to stay behind and take care of some of her warriors who were injured in the attack yesterday. He understood that. But then when he asked about after her warriors were healed, her surprise completely threw him off.
"Actually, Sokka…" she had trailed off and looked at a spot just past his shoulder. He'd never seen her quite so nervous before.
"What?"
Then she had taken a deep breath and looked him square in the eyes. "Us Kyoshi Warriors agreed to stay and help the Earthbenders until they're all healed from the battle. Then we're going back to the pass to help the refugees again."
It had taken him a moment to fully understand. "You're not...staying with us?"
Suki had shaken her head. "No. I'm sorry, it's not that I don't want to. But my duty to my warriors come first. I can't leave them alone."
Sokka rarely gets upset, but he did then. He feels like he had just gotten her back and now he's losing her again. They fought and it was bad. Eventually one of the warriors knocked on the door and interrupted them, whispering something in Suki's ear. Suki had abruptly excused herself. Sokka left afterwards.
Suffice to say, he's not in the best of moods.
He hasn't told anyone about the fight. Honestly, he's a bit ashamed of himself. Looking back, he realizes that he acted and spoke rashly. Of course Suki has a duty to her warriors, just as he has a duty to his sister. She can't just abandon them for him.
This isn't about them. This is about the whole world.
Aang chatters on about stories he's heard of Ba Sing Se. Sokka half listens, enough to respond appropriately when needed but not enough to actually process the words. He tries to think about what he'll say to Suki when he sees her again. He'll have to apologize, of course. But what then?
That's the problem that's eating away at Sokka. He knows that Suki won't abandon her warriors. He won't leave Katara. There is no compromise that they can reach. They're destined to be separated.
Sokka feels like he and Suki had just figured out how they felt about each other and fallen into a routine before they'd been separated. Then, when reunited, Sokka had real hope for their future. Now, at the heels of one of their greatest victories, they have to part ways again.
He's getting deja vú from his past life all over again. He remembers Katara's great victories in the North Pole as the only female student of the waterbending master - and just as he and Yue admitted their feelings, she died. At least Suki is alive - although that makes the aching loss even harder, knowing that she's there but turned her back on him.
He knows it's not fair to blame it on her. In a way, it's both of their faults. And in a way, it's neither of their faults. The blame belongs to the war and to the Fire Nation and the entire situation that they're in.
Aang's voice cuts through Sokka's thoughts.
"What's this?"
They both lean down and peer through a half-open window in the building beside them. A young woman stands on a stage and reads from a scroll.
"Through all the long night / winter moon glows with bright love / sleet, her silver tears."
The audience, a group of other young, beautiful girls, clap politely and smile.
"Ahhh," Sokka says, a big grin forming on his face. "Poetry."
"I didn't know you were into poetry," Aang says. "I thought you were more into manly things, like boomerang throwing and meat eating."
"Hey. Poetry is a very manly thing." Sokka points his boomerang at Aang threateningly. "Poetry is the manliest thing a man can do."
"Then why don't you join them?" Aang asks.
"Oh, no no no. You don't just join poetry slams, Aang. These events are highly prestigious. You have to prove your worth and then be invit -"
Before Sokka can finish his sentence, Aang uses a blast of air to push him through the window until he crashes onto the stage below. The throng of girls gasp and cover their mouths with their fans.
"Oops, sorry ladies," Sokka says, standing up. He shoots a glare out at Aang, who is looking very innocent. "I guess the wind brought me here. Sorry to disturb."
To his surprise, the girls laugh lightly and fan themselves.
The oldest of the group, a woman in her thirties, stands up. She has a stern expression. "Five seven then five / syllables mark a haiku / remarkable oaf." She bows slightly.
Sokka narrows his eyes. A test, then. Of poetry prowess. He'll show her what a "remarkable oaf" he is when he kicks her butt in poetry.
"They call me Sokka / that is, in the Water Tribe / I am not an oaf."
The girls giggle again, some of them beginning to blush. Sokka feels his confidence building up.
"Chittering monkey / in the spring he climbs treetops / and thinks himself tall," the woman responds.
"You think you're so smart / with your fancy little words / this is not so hard," Sokka shoots back, not even having to count the syllables on his fingertips.
"Oooh…" the girls chorus.
"Whole seasons are spent / mastering the form, the style / none calls it easy." Her eyes are narrowed at him now.
Sokka raises his arms out. "I calls it easy / like I paddle my canoe / I'll paddle yours, too."
The girls laugh. The woman frowns deeper.
"There's nuts, and there's fruits / In fall the clean plum drops / always to be squashed."
"Squish, squash, sling that slang / I'm always right back at ya / like my boomerang."
He's just getting warmed up now. The woman turns her back and walks off the stage, accepting defeat. Sokka just gets cockier.
"That's right, I'm Sokka / it's pronounced with an 'okka / young ladies, I rocked ya!"
This time there's no applause. They stare at him with narrowed eyes.
He counts the syllables on his fingertips. Oh no. The last phrase had six instead of five. He gulps.
"That's one too many syllables there, bub," the security guard says, grabbing him by his tunic. "You're outta here."
He throws Sokka out the front doors, where he lands on the pavement. Aang is laughing from the side.
"That was great, Sokka! You really rocked it! I had no idea you were so good at haikus!"
Sokka rests his face in his hand. "Poetry," he sighs.
Without even realizing it, he had put his thoughts about his problems to rest for a few minutes.
Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai sit in the back of a crowded bar in the lower wall of Ba Sing Se. They'd snuck in after nightfall. With just the three of them, it wasn't hard.
Getting into Ba Sing Se alone isn't hard; it's getting an army into Ba Sing Se.
"What are we going to do now?" Ty Lee asks. "They destroyed our equipment and captured our troops."
"And now we're stuck in this awful place," Mai complains.
"Shut up. I'm trying to think." Azula rubs her forehead. She's not ready to give up on capturing this city. She was foolish to trust that war minister with the drill. She was foolish to try and bring the Avatar along; if she had sent Katara off with Zuko, they'd both be safely in Boiling Rock right now. Or maybe they'd both be freed by those pesky friends of the Avatar, but at least Azula would have captured Ba Sing Se.
Now she has nothing. No Avatar, no city, no troops, no resources. Just her brilliant mind and her two most loyal servants.
"It was actually quite clever, how they defeated us," Ty Lee babbles on. "Destroying the drill from its vulnerable insides. We probably should have reinforced the doors better. All they had to do was get in and then it was easy."
"They would have failed if that Earthbender brat hadn't suddenly gained the ability to bend metal," Mai says. "How on earth were we supposed to counter that? No one has ever bent metal before."
"The Avatar is smart. She's collected a small group of elite fighters to protect her. She has that Airbender kid and now the Earthbender." Azula sets her elbow on the table. Maybe she and the Avatar aren't so different after all. Mai and Ty Lee compose her own elite group. They aren't benders, but they don't have to be to be a formidable force. And Azula herself is powerful enough to make up for their lack.
"She has to master all the other elements still," Ty Lee says. "They're probably along as teachers, too."
Azula snorts. She tries to imagine the bald kid being a teacher. He's too much of an airhead, thinks everything is a game. But at the end of the day, he's no match for her. And the Earthbender girl - she's also just a kid.
"She's just missing a Firebender," Mai points out. She slams one of her blades into the wood of the table, pulls it out, and then slams it back in again. "Probably going to try to break Zuko out of Boiling Rock." She's not able to hide the bitter edge to her voice.
Azula had already thought that. But Boiling Rock is well protected. Even the Avatar would have trouble breaking into there.
"That's the least of our problems right now," she says. "We know they're still in the city."
The Fire Nation has control over almost all the surrounding areas. If the Avatar and her friends leave the city, they'll be spotted. Azula will worry about that when it becomes a problem. For now, she has bigger issues.
"Those annoying Dai Li agents are everywhere," Ty Lee says. "They control everything. How are we supposed to take down Ba Sing Se when they're always watching?"
Ba Sing Se has two levels of defense that make it almost impossible to conquer: the walls, and the Dai Li agents. They all studied this when they were at the Academy together. The Dai Li agents work from the shadows, collecting intel and taking out threats. Brainwashing is also a part of their job.
If Azula wants to conquer Ba Sing Se, she'll have to dispose of the Dai Li. People have tried, but they weren't successful. Of course, they also weren't her.
Then a sudden thought occurs to her. The Avatar and her friends had thwarted her plans from the inside out. They had destroyed the drill from the inside. The indestructible outside didn't matter one bit. Why can't she do that with Ba Sing Se?
"We need to find those pesky Earth Kingdom warriors," she says. "The ones with the makeup and the fans."
"Why?" Mai asks.
"Because I know how we're going to conquer Ba Sing Se." She sits back with a smile. Maybe she'll have the Avatar and Ba Sing Se by the end of the week. And even if she only has one, that will still be enough to please her father.
Then she can finally go back to the comforts of the Fire Nation palace and take her place at her father's right hand side, where she belongs.