Cometfall. The name given to the day that Sozin's Comet returns, the deadline for the life of a world.
The fall of Ba Sing Se marked the beginning of the end of the Fire Nation War, and while the fate of millions rested in the hands of five children, there were others who had their own parts to play. For right or wrong, for peace or for war, for today or for tomorrow, these are their stories.
Tales of Cometfall: The Cabbage Merchant, the…uhhhh…Cabbage Merchant
Eight Months Before Cometfall
"MY CABBAGES!"
Six Months Before Cometfall
"MY CABBAGES!"
Four Months Before Cometfall
"MY CABBAGES!"
Fourteen Weeks Before Cometfall
"MY CABBA…aw forget it…" the long-suffering cabbage merchant turned his back on the ravenous rabbitroo that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Another bushel lost, he thought as he wandered aimlessly away from his cart, his cabbages, and his life's work. I'll bet that bald kid had something to do with this, he's been following me around since Omashsu, he must be a rival grower…well whoever he is, I've had it. What I need now is…
"…And that old king, not only lets him off, but throws him a banquet! If you ask me he's a few seeds short of a garden," the cabbage merchant mumbled out while resting his chin on the bar. The clay cup of strong drink sloshed around with his every word.
The bartender stood over him, passionately disinterested, wiping the inside of another clay cup idly with his eyes on his establishment. Business had been good for him, while no one spoke about why. The Fire Nation War had created massive numbers of refugees, flooding the city. People who lose their land and the livelihood become desperate, and desperate people are thirsty people. Even now, in the middle of the day, the bar was crowded. Patrons struggled to push past each other, starting small scrapes while others sat by small tables and in stone booths tapping their feet to the sound of the talented Zuki horn player who he'd let set up shop in the corner.
"…and what did they serve?" the cabbage merchant continued, "Lettuce. No wonder my hair's turned gray, were they trying to make me ill? And guess what happened the very next day, that SAME KID crushes my cart again, and this time…the KING is with him! It was bad enough that I was out three loads of cabbages, that I had to pay to replace mind you, but it kept happening again and again, in fact it's happening right now just up the street! And now that that crop's gone too," the cabbage merchant stood to give a toast, "Anyone want to buy a cabbage cart? I'm flat broke!" With that the cabbage merchant moved to take a huge drink only to have the suddenly attentive bartender swipe the broke man's unpaid for drink away at the last moment, "MY COCKTAIL!" he exclaimed before thudding his head against the bar.
"Sorry buddy, I've got kids to feed," the bartender empathized, placing the cup on a wooden shelf behind him.
"I'll pay for him," a soft, female voice called from the side. Two fingers of a thin hand slid two brass coins down the length of the bar. The bartended quickly scooped them up and in the same motion delivered the drink back to the table. Rubbing his new acquired income together, he left the new couple alone.
"You say you are a merchant?" she asked.
"So what if I…" the cabbage merchant complained. Even though he now had his drink, he was still angry and turned to look at his inquisitor/benefactor. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her gray eyes looked like bright stars against her hair, which was colored the blackest shade of night. Her face, while it had seen the blaze of the sun often, radiated a glow like the finest of pottery. Her nose: perfect, lips: perfect, ears: perfect…lips: perfect, "…am. Yes, I am, of course I am." He stumbled out to try to recover his position.
"And you are a farmer, a cabbage farmer?"
He'd be anything she wanted him to be, "Yeah."
"And you have a cart, is it fast?"
The cabbage merchant swelled with pride, "People tell me I move from town to town faster than a Flying Bison…whatever that is."
"I need your help," a nervous, worried look came across the woman's face, "I can pay you."
"Illdoitforfree," he blurted out unintelligibly before remembering he was both cabbage-less and broke.
"What?"
"Uhhh…I'll…uhhh…I said, 'I'll do it for a fee'. I'll help money for you; I mean…I'll do you for money…WAIT! I meant: I will help you for money…wait! No…that was it, that last one."
The woman looked tense and looked away for a moment, "My Father is a farmer as well. He has a large farm to the east, but he's old and tired, and when the mill broke down he sent me here to buy new parts…" She started to trail off, as if thinking about her father was too difficult, "…but the box of parts is very heavy and when my ostrichhorse died I had no way of getting it out of the city. You're a traveler, you have experience moving things in and out of cities, can you help me?" She finished with a wipe of her misting eyes.
She needs my help, the cabbage merchant thought, and she can help me in turn, so why not? I do need a way to get back on my feet; I can't sit around here forever, but do I really want to get involved in someone else's problems? It would be the right thing to do, the world has become even more dangerous, and we all have to look out for each other. It's what the Avatar would do...but that bald kid is still out there, he could ruin everything…again. I wish there was some kind of sign…
"Did I mention he grows cabbages the size of elephantkoi?"
"Let's go"
Moments later, they were loading a small, but very heavy for its size, box on the cabbage cart, which the merchant was happy to find not only still there, and still in one piece, but still containing a moderate pile of green, leafy vegetables. Kicking the cart off its blocks, he began pushing it towards the east gate with the woman walking alongside. The cart, despite its heavy load was still perfectly balanced and rolled with ease. It had better, the cabbage merchant thought; I've had to rebuild it so many times.
They moved in silence as the made their way around the south side of city, towards the East Gate. The woman looked around constantly; this isn't the safest part of the city, the cabbage merchant thought, I'm scared too…no…not scared, nervous, I'd be nervous too, oh come on try to act tough for once, ok? "Don't worry," He said, trying to sound confident and protective, "Bandits do frequent this area, I'm told, but I can handle it if anything happens."
"I'm sorry, what?" The woman asked, joining the conversation late, "Oh, I'm not worried about…I mean is, thanks." She never took her eyes off the neighborhood's empty storefronts and shaded alleys.
While the streets of the south were quiet, the area around the East Gate was pandemonium. Unlike the ordered process of accepting refugees that the barrier of Full Moon Bay provided, the way into Ba Sing Se from the east was unimpeded by natural barriers. The result was that the space between the inner wall and the outer wall had been turned into a semi-permanent refugee camp. The officials in charge decided that instead of packing people in, they'd move the city out and around the newcomers, making the Lower Ring slums larger every day.
Almost two hours of pushing and shoving had the pair on the verge of the city's exit. Except for the crowds. Leaving the city looks like it going to be easer the entering it, the cabbage merchant thought, maneuvering his cart though the throngs of people, the woman behind him in the wide wake created by the cart's width. By the looks on the guards faces, we seem to be the only ones who have left in a while. All they do on the way out is wave, while on the way in they seemed to be in a race to destroy my produce.
A simple stone arch cut out of the wall was the only thing separating them from the outside world, when a small woman appeared out of nowhere, right in front of them, with a massive smile on her face. A thin man in a narrow, pointed straw hat stepped partially out of the wall's shadow behind her. Only his stone covered hands could be seen clearly
"Hello," she said, "I am Joo Dee, why you'd want to leave our wonderful, safe, city?"
"I…uhh," The cabbaged merchant replied, thinking fast on his feet.
"Play along." The woman said in a tone the cabbage merchant hadn't heard yet, but nonetheless felt compelled to follow, she then announced, "We're newlyweds!" joyfully and moved forward quickly to grasp the cabbage merchant's arm, who instantly looked like he was going to pass out, "We are off to start a new life together outside the walls!"
"Outside the walls?" The Joo Dee seemed perplexed, "Just the two of you," she peered into the cart, "some cabbages and one box?"
"We're more then capable of taking care of ourselves, aren't we Honey-Poo?"
"Uhh…yeah," the cabbage merchant added after getting an elbow to the ribs. He had never felt so many different kinds of nervous at once.
The Joo Dee glanced back at the stone-handed man, who nodded upwards gently, "I must know," she asked, "what is in the box? I'm just curious; you don't have anything to hide? Do you?"
"Of course not!" The cabbage merchant said, thinking that he finally had a handle on this inexpiable game of subterfuge he found himself in, although it in fact caused the woman to gasp audibly, and start looking around as if ready to run.
The Joo Dee leaned in to the cart and was just about to open one of the leather buckles that held it shut when the remaining pile of cabbages came to life. An adolescent Rabbitroo, the same one that drove the cabbage merchant to drink, bounded out of the cart and pounced onto the Joo Dee, licking her face before bounding around and between all four of them.
The assembled were locked in absolute surprise, and as eyes darted around searching for an explanation, the cabbage merchant spoke first, "Down! Settle down there, boy," he moved towards the animal and raised his arms as if trying to calm an excited ostrichorse.
"Are you traveling with this…thing?" The Joo Dee asked
"Yes...Yes," the woman replied, this is our attack rabbitroo…uhhh"
"Munchie, dear, her…his name is Munchie, remember?" The merchant replied remembering the name his mother used to lure rabbitroos on his father's farm to her, right before she would try to whack them with a sickle. The slow ones became dinner.
The Rabbitroo, formally known now as Munchie, began to show affection for the stone-handed man…aggressively. The quartet was silent again this time in sheer, shared discomfort.
The woman spoke first, trying not to blush with embarrassment for the receiver of Munchie's affection, "As you can see, he can take care of…problems in more then one way."
"Get…it…off…of…me." The stone-handed man gritted out.
"Oh Snuggle-Cakes?" The cabbage merchant called to his companion, and with her attention, tossed her a spare cabbage from the cart. With it, she was able to lure Munchie out of his…activity.
"Leave. Now." The stone-handed man pointed to the gate, the rocks on his hands grinding with his finger movements just louder then the sound of his grinding teeth.
With an occupied Munchie in tow, the pair, now a trio, left Ba Sing Se.
Hours later on the road, the cabbage merchant could get the events at the gate out of his mind. I can't stop thinking about it, he thought, what if she's dangerous?
"What are you thinking about?" She asked.
"W-What makes you think I'm thinking of anything?"
"Well you have a distant look in your eyes, your head is tilted, you're pushing the cart off the road…and you're talking to yourself."
The merchant shifted position to put the cart back on the road, and struggled to think of something to say, "Mud!"
"Mud?"
"Yeah…uhhh I always wondered, you know Earthbenders move rocks and dirt, and Waterbenders move, well, water. But what about Mud?"
"What about mud?" The woman looked less perplexed and more bewildered.
"Well, mud is just wet dirt, right? So what wouldn't that mean that both kinds of benders could move it?"
At that, her mouth hung open just a tiny bit, and her eyes squinted just a shade, in what the cabbage merchant thought was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his whole life. "You're saying…" she finally said after considering mud for quite a while, "that the four elements are all connected! That means the four nations…might share a common ancestry! You know scholars say that we all lived as one people thousand of years ago, but there's been no proof, but if what you said it true…"
What just happened? "Actually I wanted to ask about before…"
"What about lava? Its melted rock, it could work for Firebenders and Earthbenders…there must be something like that for each pair of elements…wow, you're brilliant!" The woman then excitedly hugged the merchant and just as quickly disengaged, when she realized what she was doing, "Uhh…we should probably keep moving."
"Yes, yes we should go." Blushing with embarrassment, the cabbage merchant forgot about his questions for a moment and turned his focus back to his cart. They had been traveling up hill for a while and were nearing the summit; the path had gotten narrow. It was now bordered on the right side by a steep slope and on the left by a high ridge.
At the top the women spoke again, pointing out into the middle distance, "My…father's farm is just a couple hours away now, we're home free."
"I wouldn't say that," came a sharp female voice from up on the ridge. The merchant looked up to see a woman in tight black leather riding the strangest creature he had ever seen. She was wielding a whip and had a red tattoo on her exposed shoulder
"June." His companion said as she slowly started to crouch down.
"You were a fool to leave Ba Sing Se, and to think that my Shirshu couldn't pick up your trail again. Give up now and you'll have a more comfortable trip to my employer."
"Never." The woman replied, drawing two sais out from hidden sheaves attached to her legs. June tapped the side of her mount and suddenly the beast flung its tongue out at the woman, who caught the slippery appendage between the flats of her two weapons.
The speed of the action caught the cabbage merchant totally by surprise, and even caused Munchie to dive back into the cart. The woman then turned to the cabbage merchant and whispered, "No matter what, get the box to my father." The Shirshu pulled it's tongue free and the woman dashed forward and dug one sai into the ridge wall and used the other the help pull her up to June's level. Once on the ridge she had to duck again, this time to avoid the tongue, and then jumped up to engage June directly.
June blocked the woman's double-stab attempt with the thick braids of the whip's thong, then used the extra length to quickly wrap the woman's hands and use the leverage provided to fling her off the animal's back. The woman caught June's hip with her right foot on her way over and pulled the bounty hunter down and out of the sight of cabbage merchant.
"MY COMPANION!" He exclaimed, pulling his hat down on his head in astonished frustration. I have got to help her, but how? I'm no warrior and I don't have any bending powers, but I do have one thing, "Get her, Munchie!" The Rabbitroo did not respond.
The cabbage merchant began to furiously pull at the animal, trying to get it to respond, when the woman came skidding off of the ridge and landed in a heap. The cabbage merchant ran over to her, only to have her push him off and out of the way when the June-mounted Shirshu landed in the in the very place he once stood.
The pair continued to duel, but the woman was barely holding her own against the combined attacks of June's whip and the Shirshu's tongue. June has her back turned to me, now's my chance! The cabbage merchant grabbed a head out of his cart and with squinted eyes, chucked it at the back of June's head.
Missing his target by the width of a Platypusbear, the cabbage instead struck his companion square in the face, stunning her long enough for the Shirshu to rake its tongue across her exposed neck. She experienced a full body twitch, and then dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Oops, he thought standing frozen in his throwing position as if he was stunned himself. June hopped down off her mount and slung the woman over the back of the animal, "Stop!" He was finally able to say.
June flicked her whip at the cabbage merchant so quickly that he wondered where she bought the green hat she was holding until he figured out that she had snatched it off his own head in an instant.
The cabbage merchant fell backward on his rear in fear and amazement.
"Didn't think so," June said climbing back up onto the Shirshu, "Thanks for the help anyway, I'll cut you in on the bounty…if I ever see you again," she tore his hat in half and tossed him the pieces, "and I had better not." With that, she bade the beast to climb back up the ridge.
Before she disappeared, the cabbage merchant caught the eyes of his paralyzed former companion. He looked at her apologetically. She looked pissed.
He turned to face Munchie, "What do I do now?" Munchie on the other hand was off in his own world, discovering the new flavor of the heavy box that the woman left behind, "The box! I can a least get the box to her father, and maybe get some help for her there. Let's go!" I'm so not going to get paid now.
Hours later, the sun had almost completely set. The cabbage merchant, Munchie in tow, finally spotted the old mill and sprinted the last few hundred feet towards it. Upon closer inspection, the cobblestone tower seemed abandoned.
"Hello?" He called out, "I'm looking for…" he didn't know the woman's father's name, so he tried another tack and called out, "I'm looking the father of…" he didn't know her name either. I knew there was something I kept forgetting to ask, he thought, I know! "I have the box!" He yelled.
Out of nowhere a dozen armed men appeared. Three of them drew rocks out of the tower and held them fast over the cabbage merchant's head. Only Munchie was more surprised than he was as he leapt out of the cart and into the cabbage merchant's arms, whom after a beat, unceremoniously dumped the cabbage-stealing little coward on the ground. Two men approached, one visibly aged and the other much younger.
"You have the box?" The old man asked, to whom the cabbage merchant replied with a nervous nod.
The younger man then stepped in front, "Forget about the box, where is the Princess?"
Meanwhile…
"Forget about the Princess, where is the box?" War Minister Qin asked after June dropped the de-paralyzed, but bound and gagged princess on the floor of his command tent.
"What box?" June asked angrily, "You hired me to get the girl, and after considerable time and effort, her she is!"
"She would of have had the box with her!" The aged Fire Nation official yelled back.
"You didn't hire me to find a box! I've brought you what you wanted, now pay me."
Qin seethed for a few moments, then decided that arguments wouldn't settle this issue, "Lieutenant, pay this woman, and then run her out of my camp."
June took the small bag of gold that the young officer offered and left muttering, "What is it with these Fire Nation types and young women? Creepy."
War Minister Qin then crouched down to look at the princess, "I don't need the box, do I? With you as my prisoner, the resistance will come to me, and I can take care of you, them, and the walls of Ba Sing Se in one fell swoop!"
Back at the mill…
"What Princess?" The cabbage merchant asked.
"The girl who had the box, what did you do with her?" The young man shouted, drawing a long, curved blade.
"Kohai! Stop!" The old man ordered, and the young man complied. "This young man was obviously entrusted with the box, and that means the princess trusted him with her life. We should treat him with respect that that trust is due."
"Yes, Senpai, of course," Kohai replied.
"Tell me young man, where is the young woman who gave you this box?"
The collar of the cabbage merchant's shirt became very tight suddenly, "Ummm, she was captured by a bounty hunter…"
Senpai's face turned from gentle and understanding to pure fury in an instant. He waved his hand over his face once and the cabbage merchant's world went black.
He awoke to find a half dozen Fire Nation gymnasts fawning all over him, tickling his face with cabbage leaves and fanning his body with giant fans made out of cabbage. He stretched out on his bed of cabbage and smiled in perfect contentment. Then suddenly each girl's head changed into the face of that boy with the blue stripe and everything began to be crushed by giant rocks falling out of nowhere.
"MY CONCUBINES!" He shouted, now awake for real, and facing a room full of strange looks and a Rabbitroo licking his face. After a moment, they all turned back to what they were doing, which looked like a planning meeting, "Wow, that was a good show," he whispered to himself.
He staggered to his feet and looked over one man's shoulder to see what was going on. Kohai placed the box on the table in front of Senpai and opened it. He then pulled out an object emblazoned with the Fire Nation symbol that was foreign to the cabbage merchant. It looked like thick walled barrel tilted at an angle and set with two wheels on either side.
Senpai began to speak, "This is the object that the princess we were charged to protect risked her life to bring to us from the Northern Air Temple. The weapon smith there has recently changed his allegiance away from the Fire Nation and has provided a model of the latest war engine that he built for the enemy. It is called a 'cannon'and with its destructive power, the Fire Nation can obliterate the walls of Ba Sing Se with one strike. Our spies have determined that that attack is coming tomorrow." The warriors in the room murmured nervously as Senpai continued, "Now I have examined the device and determined its weakness. There are several small holes here near the base," he explained pointing at four equally spaced ports in the base of the cannon, "to effectively operate the weapon, four firebenders must strike through them in sequence. The resulting explosion will propel an iron ball a great distance and with great force. Force enough to pierce the walls of the capitol." The murmuring reached a fervor pitch, "Our only option is to get Earthbenders close enough to plug these ports before they all can be activated. If we time it right, the resulting malfunction should destroy the weapon."
"Hit a target that small? Impossible!" One warrior complained.
"It's not impossible, I plugged Singing Groundhog holes that size with rocks back home." Another bragged, which earned him a smack on the head.
Kohai finished the briefing, "We leave at dawn, we are going to break into teams, each with one Earthbender and an assigned target. This is the day we've been waiting for, and although the Princess isn't here, we still fight in her name. We fight for her, for our families, for our nation, and for our king!"
"THE EARTH KINGDOM IS ETERNAL! LONG LIVE THE EARTH KING!" The assembled shouted, startling the cabbage merchant and causing Munchie to hide under the bed.
The crowd started to move out of the cabin, and the cabbage merchant caught Kohai by the shoulder eliciting a scary look from the young man, "Wait," he asked, "What's going on here? She's a Princess? There's going to be a battle? With a 'Cannot'?"
"A 'Cannon.'" he corrected.
"Exactly, explain it to me! Please!"
"What? You want to help?"
"Do I want to help?" The cabbage merchant intoning, c'mon, how could I possibly help?
"Great, we could use every spare hand." Kohai responded, apparently unfamiliar with sarcasm, "Please forgive me and my Grandfather for our actions beforehand. We do in fact respect the trust the princess placed in you. It is the same kind of trust the Royal Family put in my family's hands one hundred years ago when the drums of war began to beat, and the then Earth King sent his brother's family away for our safe keeping. So we will be honored to fight along side of you in the coming battle."
I think I just volunteered, "Glad to be…on the team?" he replied.
"Now, tell me brother, what battle skills do you wield?"
"I uhhh….have a cart…and…uhhh...well, I do have an attack Rabbitroo!" There was silence, and in the distance a man coughed, "His name is Munchie."
"We'll find something useful for you to do."
An hour before down the camp moved out, the cabbage merchant brought up the rear, struggling with the load of wedge-shaped rocks in his cart. Could be worse, I could be one of the guys in the front. A few minutes later, the group stopped at the crest of a hill, and few minutes later still the cabbage merchant was able to get his cart up high enough to see what had stopped them.
In the valley ahead was a sight unlike any other. The walls of Ba Sing Se could be seen in the distance, but they looked puny in comparison to the massive cannon of the Fire Nation. It was a large as a mountain, and made of the blackest iron. Suspended from the ground by massive iron wheels, it was pointed away from him and at the walls. Fire Nation solders scurried around it like bugs on a pile of rotten cabbages. Between it and the walls, a massive Fire Army invasion force stood ready to take the city.
Kohai began to speak, "This is it, men. The fate of the Earth Kingdom rests in your hands. Warriors draw your weapons! Earthbenders! Draw your rocks!" With that, several dozen of the rocks in his cart levitated up and out of it, causing the cart to become a bit off balance. This began to startle Munchie, who moved to the front of cart, tilting it over the hill a bit more, "Ready! CHA-" he announced, but he was too slow.
"MY COUNTERPOISE!" The cabbage merchant yelled as his cart got away from him and started to drag him down the hill, "It means baaaaaaaallllaaaanncceee!'" he explained, which caused the men follow him, yelling their own battle cries.
The cabbage merchant was finally overtaken at the bottom of the hill as the resistance warriors, followed by their leader, engaged the enemy. The fighting was furious, at least the parts the cabbage merchant could see, as he kept his head down and was slowly moved forward by the line of battle by his constant need to keep his limbs attached. He finally found himself a short distance from the cannon itself and had to blink hard at what he saw. The woman, the Princess, was tied to the underside of one of the large wheels, and even though the resistance warriors were fighting all along the structure, no one had seen her.
Against his better judgment, he sneaked his cart up as close to the weapon as he dared and moved to untie the Princess.
"You?" She said, sounding bewildered, "What are you doing here? Doesn't matter, get me off of this thing, if it fires, I'll be crushed."
The cabbage merchant struggled with the thick knots, "How would that happen?" He asked.
"It's called recoil; the Mechanist said if a thing is shot with fire one way, it pushes back the other way with equal force!"
The cabbage merchant stopped working at the knots and scratched his head, "That doesn't make sense, Firebenders shoot flames out of their hands, and they never fall backwards."
The Princess thought about that for a moment before speaking, "You know what, it is a bit strange I wonder, no, wait…GET ME OFF THIS THING!"
"Oh, yeah, right." He began to work at the knots
"Fire the cannon!" He heard an older Fire Nation officer command, and at once Firebenders one at a time started to light the cannon.
Oh cruddy cabbage crops, I'm out of time, "Munchie! Get over here!" the cabbage merchant commanded, and to his surprise, the Rabbitroo compiled, "Munchie, if chew through these ropes I'll feed you cabbage until you're bloated and discolored." The Rabbitroo began right away as the merchant clambered up the side of the cannon.
"Where are you going?" The Princess asked.
"I have no idea," he replied as he struggled to pull himself up on to the sloped gantry that ran around the circumference of the cannon. Once one top, and once he got his breath back, he saw that he was alone with two of the Firebender operators. One behind him was currently shooting flame into he cannon and the one in front was just about to complete the sequence when he was startled by the appearance of the cabbage merchant.
"W-Who are you?" He asked.
"I…uhhh…I am THE AVATAR!" The cabbage merchant replied with the only appropriate response when trying to intimidate someone clearly more powerful then you.
"No your not."
"Of course I am! Now stop this immediately or face the wrath of the elements!" The cabbage merchant struck what he hoped was a fearsome pose.
"The Avatar is a twelve year old bald kid with a blue line on his head."
The cabbage merchant went cold and then very hot, that kid, the one who's plagued me for months…is the Avatar? What? Why? The cabbage merchant dropped his hands to his side and screamed, "MY CONCEPTIONS!"
"Uh…you ok there, buddy?" The Fire Nation soldier asked.
The cabbage merchant calmed himself for a moment, "No, I don't think I will be for some time."
"Sorry to hear that, but I've got something to do here, you if you don't mind."
"I'm sorry but I can't let you!" The cabbage merchant then charged forward to tackle is opponent, who instead simply flipped the merchant over the railing.
Hanging on with only one hand, he saw the Firebender start to charge his flame, and heard a voice call out from under him.
"Are you ok?" The Princess asked, now free from the wheel.
"No, not really," he replied, "I need something to plug this hole or it's all over."
"Ok, one second…here!" She threw a wedge shaped rock up at him.
The cabbage merchant quickly swung out of the way and the huge rock clanged on the cannon beside him, "Hey! Careful!" He glared back down at the Princess, "I'm not an Earthbender! What was I going to do with that! Get me something else!"
"What then?"
"I don't know, think of something."
"Uh...here! Catch!"
The merchant opened his right hand and in it landed the most beautiful thing in the world, a perfectly formed cabbage. Pulling himself up with his left arm, he flung the cabbage with pinpoint accuracy into cannon's port. A second later, the Firebender released his flame, but with the tube plugged, the cannon began to shudder and smoke.
From a distance, he heard Kohai yell, "It's going to blow!"
"Jump!" The Princess yelled, "I've got you!"
The cabbage merchant let go and landed in his cart with a painful thud. My cart full of rocks, much softer then the ground, thanks, he tried to say, but all that came out was, "Muuhhhhh…"
"Munchie! Let's go!" The Princess pushed the cart away and then tipped it on its side, just before the cannon exploded in tremendous fashion, shaking the earth and knocking everybody off their feet.
When the cacophonous sound finally died down, the cabbage merchant spoke weakly, "Did we do it?"
"Yes, we did it." She replied.
"Hooray for our side."
Four Weeks Before Cometfall
Ten weeks and many adventures later, the Eastern Rebellion joined up with the Free Army of the Earth Kingdom and on the Day of the Black Sun retook the capitol of Ba Sing Se. The mighty Earth King was reunited that day with the cousin he never knew he had, and when the King heard the story of the brave citizen who risked everything to save her and the city he called for a ceremony.
The hero was summoned to the throne room. The cabbage merchant entered and a legion of warriors came to attention. With Munchie at his side, he approached the throne and received a medal from the Princess for Extraordinary Services to the Kingdom.
The King spoke first, "Citizen, the Earth Kingdom owes you a debt of gratitude that we can't possibly begin to repay, but this should come close." With that, the King bade an attendant to approach with a long box, "In this box contains the cabbage growing secrets of the first Kings of the Earth. They are yours; with them, you will no doubt become the greatest cabbage grower in the world." The room exploded in applause.
Hours later, with the reception over and with life becoming the cabbage merchant pushed his empty cart down the wide streets of the Inner Ring, with a spring in his step and a smile on his face.
"You know Munchie, it's been a tough couple of months, but it all turned out all right." The cabbage merchant hopped up on a low wall and turned his head to the sky, feeling the warmth of the sun on his face, "And with the scrolls the King gave me, I'll soon be set for life! Let's get to work!"
The cabbage merchant hopped down and heard a soft crunching sound from behind him and turned to see Munchie eating paper out of a long box.
"MY CABBAGE CROP CULTIVATION CATALOG!" The cabbage merchant dropped to his knees and rapped his head on the side of his cart for a while before catching his breath, "Oh well," he sighed, "if your done with lunch, I've got to get back to work." He got up, grabbed the handles of his cart and started pushing it on down the road, leaving Munchie behind. He only got twenty or so feet further before looking back at an animal with an impossibly sad look on its face, "Come on, Munchie, let's go."