IV

"Come on, Killer," Aang coaxed. "Move a little faster, okay?"

All he got in reply from the bird-like beast he was riding was a sullen "squaawrk" and a toss of her head. Aang sagged against the thin, gray neck and sighed. He'd tried everything—pleading with her, letting go of the reins, prodding her with gentle kicks against her sides, even running behind her and flapping his arms, yelling like a madman—but nothing he did could make Killer move at a pace faster than a steadily plodding gait. He straightened and glanced behind him, half-expecting to see a mob of angry, fire-breathing soldiers chasing after him. He wondered how much time had lapsed since he'd left them unconscious and hanging from the tree-tops at the edge of the forest. He'd driven the rhinos away to slow the soldiers down, but at the rate he and Killer were moving, a toddler would have been able to catch up with them, let alone a group of Fire Nation soldiers bent on settling a score with the young airbender who had thrashed them soundly and stripped them of their loot. The thought made the skin between his shoulder blades crawl, and he decided that giving Killer another chance wouldn't hurt.

"Come on, girl. Those soldiers are going to wake up any minute and shoot fire at our heads, so we better get moving."

"Squaawrk."

Aang tried another tack. "Don't you want to see your master again? I bet he's just up ahead, waiting for you. You don't want to make him worry even more, do you?"

Killer turned her head and gave him a look that clearly said, "Nice try."

Aang groaned. "This is taking forever! Katara and the others are probably wondering what's happened to us. Wait a minute. Killer, yip-yip!"

Nothing happened.

"Yeah, that didn't work too well on Floppsie either. Come on, Killer. I know you're old and tired and cranky, but we have to move."

Killer tilted her beak upward and gave a low croak. Aang followed her gaze toward the white speck in the sky that was coming straight at them, and immediately brightened. "It's Appa! Over here, boy!" He waved his glider staff in the air to let them know where he was. "Look, Killer. There's your master right there. Do you see—whoa!"

He was nearly thrown off the saddle when Killer suddenly sprinted forward, squawking with pathetic eagerness. Aang grabbed at the reins and boosted himself up with a gust of air to keep from sliding right off Killer's back, laughing with surprise at the unexpected display of vigor from the aging, gray-fuzzed riding-beast. Appa gave a grunting call while Katara and Sokka waved at him from atop the bison's head. Sitting in the saddle, wearing the stunned expressions that first-time Appa-flyers tended to have, were the old jeweler and his granddaughter.

"Aang!" Katara called as Appa touched down, her face alight with joy and relief.

Aang grinned back, feeling his heart skip a beat at the sight of her. "Hey, Katara."

"Killer!" the old man cried as he scrambled off Appa.

"Squaawrk!"

Aang jumped off Killer's back and flipped in mid-air just as the beast gave one last burst of speed. The old man met her half-way and threw his scrawny arms around her equally scrawny neck. Aang was standing nearby watching the reunion when a pair of arms grabbed him, spun him around and wrapped around him in a tight hug. Katara's dark hair and blue-clad shoulder edged his vision and he turned his head instinctively, pressing his face against her throat. It was probably the only thing he liked about being shorter than her by a couple of inches: being able to burrow comfortably against the junction of her neck and collarbone. Tentatively, he lifted his arms to return her embrace but as soon as he did she pulled away, stepping back to make room for Sokka, who was wearing Momo on the top of his head like some sort of bizarre turban.

"What took you so long?" Katara demanded. "We were getting worried."

"Sorry," Aang said sheepishly. "The thing is, well—"

"Say no more. I think I get it," Sokka interrupted in a deadpan voice. He jerked a thumb at where the old man and his riding-beast were still cuddling each other. "Killer, I presume?"

"Yup," Aang said.

"Looks more like a 'Killee' to me."

"Don't you be mouthing off about our Killer, boy," the old man said reproachfully. "She's a tough old bird, ain't you, Killer? Still strong despite your age, eh?" Killer cooed like a pigeon and the cuddling began anew, while Sokka rolled his eyes skyward, the expression on his face making it clear that he believed neither master nor pet had enough brains between them to rattle together in a tea cup.

The sound of somebody clearing her throat drew their attention. "Um, excuse me?" the girl said timidly from her place in the saddle.

Aang and Katara glanced at each other in shared embarrassment. "Oops, sorry about that," Aang said, hopping up onto Appa's saddle. "We kind of forgot that you couldn't just climb off Appa."

The girl bowed. "It is of no consequence, Avatar."

Aang blinked at the girl's oddly formal manner, then shook his head. "Hold on tight," was all he said before scooping the girl up and jumping down, cushioning their fall with a rush of air. He settled her on her feet, waiting until she regained her balance. Killer cawed, trotted over to the girl and lowered her beak into the girl's upraised hands. The girl laughed and hugged the riding-beast's scraggly face to her.

Aang was about to return to his place beside Katara and Sokka when he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, wait. You'll probably want these back."

He untied several cloth pouches from one end of his staff and handed them to the old man, who took them with shaking hands. He opened each of the pouches, inspecting their contents briefly, then looked up again, the lines of his face settling in an expression of unaccustomed appreciation. "Well, that about proves it. You certainly are the Avatar, Master Airbender."

"Oh yes." The girl turned toward the direction of Aang's voice, clasped her hands in front of her and bowed again. "Our most heartfelt gratitude, Avatar, to you and your faithful companions."

"Um, you're welcome," Aang said, slightly taken aback by her display of extremely impeccable manners. "It's no big deal. And you can call me Aang."

The girl shook her head fervently. "Oh, but it is a big deal, Avatar Aang. You have honored us with your act of compassion and self-sacrifice, returning what had been taken from us at the risk of your own life. I, Li Mei, and my grandfather, Wang of Tai Shen, owe you so much."

Aang took a step back, grinning fixedly. "Um, you really don't owe us anything. Really. Just all in a day's work for the Avatar and his friends. Uh, right, guys?" he called over his shoulder in an undisguised plea for help.

Sokka was watching the girl with narrowed eyes, lips pressed into a thin line, and Aang wondered what had set the older boy off. Katara caught on, though, and moved to stand beside Aang. "It's okay, Li Mei," she said soothingly. "We're glad you got Killer and your beads back and as for the Avatar, it really is his job to help out, anyway."

"Oh, but we must repay you for what you have done for us," Li Mei insisted. "If there is anything at all we can do—"

Her grandfather sighed. "Li Mei, how many times do these people have to say 'it's okay'?"

"Actually, there is something you can do for us." Aang and Katara both turned to look at Sokka, who was casually picking at his nails. He looked up and grinned archly. "You wouldn't happen to have any food on you, would you? It's just that it's past lunchtime and I'm a growing boy. So is the Avatar, for that matter."

"Sokka!" Katara gasped in disbelief at her brother's audacity.

Li Mei looked crestfallen. "Oh. Unfortunately, we don't have any food with us. But—but if you would honor us further by visiting our home in Tai Shen, I could make you a dinner of stir-fry noodles and sweet and sour tofu. We're headed that way now and—"

"Oh no, that's okay," Sokka said, raising a hand. "That would take us too far out of our way. Whoops! Looks like one of your beads fell out." When Li Mei and her grandfather began looking around for the aforementioned bead, Sokka laughed and slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh, sorry, it was just a trick of the light. My mistake."

"Sokka!" Katara growled, glaring at her brother. Aang, for his part, couldn't decide whether to be embarrassed for Sokka or just be plain confused.

Sokka smiled innocently, ignoring the censorious frown Grandfather Wang was giving him. "So, now that we've said our thank you's and all, it's time for us to be moving along. Come on, guys."

"Sokka, what are you doing?" Katara hissed.

"Oh, please. You must come with us," Li Mei pleaded. "We'd love to show you around Tai Shen, and meeting the Avatar would be such a treat for the people back home."

"I think that's a great idea," Katara said a tad too brightly, shooting a deadly look at her brother. "Don't you agree, Sokka?"

"Actually, Katara, I don't," Sokka countered in the same tone. "We need to get moving."

Aang glanced at Sokka then at the red-faced Katara. For some reason, Sokka was determined to shake off their two new acquaintances, even to the point of lying about their destination and turning down an invitation to dinner, and something in Aang urged him to listen to the older boy. After all, Sokka was the only one among them who figured out what kind of person Jet really was before it was almost too late. There was something to be said about his "instincts," no matter how many crazy situations his "instincts" had led them to.

Then again, what could be so dangerous about an old man, his blind granddaughter and their ancient riding-beast? Aang mentally shook his head and came to a decision. Whatever it was that Sokka had sensed, they would simply have to deal with it when it comes. In the meantime, there was such as thing as courtesy, and turning down an offer of hospitality—even though Sokka had pretty much gotten all of them invited—definitely did not count as an act of courtesy. Besides, he thought the grumpy old jeweler was an interesting character, and despite her tendency toward melodramatic, over-polite speeches, he found he rather liked Li Mei as well. He glanced at Katara again, wondering if she'd heard that part about his "compassion" and "self-sacrifice." He had to admit, it sounded pretty good to him.

"I'm with Katara on this one, Sokka. It's safer if we travel together, anyway," he said, breaking the stalemate between brother and sister. "Thank you for your invitation. We'd love to visit your town," he said to the other two, feeling the weight of Sokka's stare on the back of his head. "We're not really in that much of a hurry to get to—to wherever it is we're headed, anyway. Right, Sokka?"

He met Sokka's razor-sharp look with a reassuring one of his own, trying to tell the older boy that he knew something was bothering him and that they would be going into this with their eyes wide open. Finally, Sokka shrugged resignedly. "Yeah, sure. No hurry at all," he muttered.

Katara beamed. "Good for you, Sokka," she said in a voice only Aang and her brother could hear.

Aang smiled and turned back to Grandfather Wang and Li Mei, who was looking hopeful again. "So," he began cheerfully, "do you think Killer would mind if she went without a rider for the rest of the trip?"

o – o – o – o – o

Aang found himself sitting beside Katara in Appa's saddle, with Grandfather Wang and Li Mei sitting across them. Sokka had distanced himself from the group with a terse "I'm steering," and was now sitting upon Appa's head with his back to them. When Katara noticed Aang glancing over his shoulder at Sokka, she squeezed his hand briefly and leaned over to whisper, "Don't worry about him. He'll come out of his sulk soon enough."

Somewhat to his shame, Aang found that he was more than happy to oblige.

They were flying low, with Appa matching Killer's pace on the ground, although the old riding-beast was moving surprisingly briskly now that she was certain her beloved master was around. The four of them in the saddle were gathered around several small heaps of brilliantly colored stones. Momo, on the other hand, seemed to be everywhere at once, chittering with mad excitement.

"And these royal beauties are amethysts," Grandfather Wang was saying as he pulled yet another smaller pouch from one of the bigger bags. He emptied the contents into his palm to show them, and Aang and Katara made little exclamations of delight at the sight of the deep violet stones. "Practically fresh off the bed. This particular tone and strength is the most valued in the market. Folks used to put amethysts in their wine cups, thinking the stone would ward off drunkenness, but that's just a pile of—hey! Give those back! Those ain't nuts, you little devil!"

He lunged after Momo but the lemur leaped over Aang's head and huddled behind Katara, clutching his prizes tightly. "Momo!" Katara scolded. "I'm sorry, Grandfather Wang. I'll get your gems back later when Momo's done trying to crack them."

Momo blinked up at her innocently, before turning back to his latest acquisitions. So far, he already had a couple of yellow citrine teardrops, several green peridot beads and a translucent crimson lump that turned out to be an uncut garnet.

"Hmph," Grandfather Wang sniffed. "As I was saying, amethysts are known to give one the ability to communicate with the heavenly planes. At the very least, they enhance their wearer's intelligence."

There was a snicker from the direction of Appa's head. Katara twisted around and gave her brother a suspicious look. "Did you say something, Sokka?"

"Oh, just thinking out loud," Sokka answered breezily. "I guess you could do with one or two of those rocks after all."

"So you're saying all these stones have their own special powers?" Aang said quickly to head off another squabble between the siblings.

"Yes," the old man replied. "These gems are the earth's most highly evolved children, and each one has its own unique color pattern, composition and energy. Like the earth itself, they respond to the energies of other creatures around them, either working with them or countering their effects. We humans know this instinctively, else why would we have so many ceremonial pieces of jewelry for every occasion imaginable?"

Aang caught Katara's eye and the two of them shared a grin. He knew she was thinking the same thing: how Grandfather Wang's entire demeanor changed whenever he spoke about his gems. His voice lost most of its roughness and a slightly abstracted glaze entered his eyes. It was as obvious as the wiry bush on his head that he loved his work.

"'Highly evolved children'?" Sokka scoffed. "Please. They're rocks. Pretty rocks maybe, but still rocks. They're about as intelligent and highly evolved as—as a piece of rock."

"It's true," Li Mei said, speaking for the first time since boarding Appa. "Each gemstone has its own signature energy that every jeweler learns to sense. In fact, my grandfather and the others use that energy whenever they cut and set the gems. They let the stones guide them into creating the designs most suitable to their particular energy. They listen to the voices of these stones, and not only do the stones speak to them, they speak through them as well."

Sokka snorted his opinion of that, but something in Li Mei's words made Aang sit up straight. Your teacher will be someone who has mastered neutral jing, his old friend Bumi had told him the last time they'd met. You need to find someone who waits and listens before striking. Aang turned to Grandfather Wang, eyes wide. "You're an earthbender, aren't you?"

The old man actually looked insulted. "Of course I am. What do you take me for? Urk!" He leaned back in alarm when he suddenly found himself the focus of three pair of eyes—one gray and two identical ice-blue ones. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Can you teach me?"

"Please, can you teach Aang earthbending?"

"Are you any good?"

Grandfather Wang glanced helplessly at Li Mei, apparently forgetting that she couldn't see his expression. Li Mei must have somehow sensed his wordless appeal, however, and chose to respond to the question she considered most inflammatory. "Of course, my grandfather's good!" she said, every bit as indignant as the old man. "Grandfather Wang is famous throughout the Earth Kingdom for his marvelous work with gemstones. Why, there's nobody around who hasn't heard of Wang of Tai Shen and his—"

The old man coughed. "All right, Li Mei, no need to get carried away. Now, then," he continued, green eyes peering at Aang curiously. "Not to say nobody in his right mind wouldn't want to learn the craft, but why would the Avatar be interested in working with gemstones?"

Aang sighed. "It's not that I don't think your work is great, Grandfather Wang, but it's not the gemstones I'm interested in. I just really need to master earthbending as soon as I can. It's part of my training as the Avatar. We've been wandering around searching for an earthbending master for days now, but we haven't come across any until now."

Grandfather Wang lifted his lone eyebrow. "Oh yes, I remember. The Avatar is master of all four elements. I suppose you've already gotten waterbending down pat."

"Well, I've already got a great teacher to teach me waterbending, so I'm not really worried about that." Aang glanced sidelong at Katara as he said this, smiling shyly. He caught the flare of warmth in her eyes before she turned aside to pick up one of the stones. "We were supposed to stay in Omashu so I can learn earthbending from King Bumi but when we got there, well…" He trailed off, remembering the state of the once-proud Earth Kingdom city when they left it.

Li Mei nodded sadly. "News has reached us about what happened to Omashu. I heard the Fire Nation has even changed its name."

"New Ozai," Katara supplied. "That's what the Fire Nation is calling Omashu these days."

"Huh. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, if you ask me," Grandfather Wang muttered. "In any case, I'm afraid you'll have to continue your search for an earthbending master elsewhere."

"What?" three voices cried in unison. "Why?" Aang asked, his frustration clearly evident.

Sokka frowned. "You won't teach Aang because you don't want to or because you can't?"

"What exactly are you saying?" Li Mei demanded.

"I'm saying it's a question of him being able to teach Aang," Sokka replied with exaggerated patience, "because I seriously doubt any earthbending master with half a brain would deny the Avatar the training he needs."

"E-excuse me?" Li Mei spluttered, her cheeks flushing red.

"All right, that's enough, you two," Grandfather Wang cut in. "You're both correct, in any case. I'm a darned powerful earthbender in my own right and I'm not about to go around being falsely modest about it. However," he said loudly in order to be heard over the burst of elation that followed this, "I still can't teach the Avatar earthbending."

"Why not?" Aang asked plaintively.

"Because, Master Airbender, what you need to learn is not what I can teach you," the old man said as if this should have been obvious from the start. "You were right to seek out King Bumi. You need to learn earthbending from a powerful warrior, and there is none more powerful than the king of Omashu. My earthbending cannot and will never be used for combat. I and the other jewelers of Tai Shen use earthbending to cut and carve these gemstones, and through our earthbending we create works of beauty and artistry. None of this crude flinging about of boulders and stirring up of mud, no! Ours is a rare earthbending skill that calls upon the imagination, the magic within one's soul; it is not simply borne out of one's desire to pelt someone with rocks. As such, I doubt you will find our earthbending useful in the battle against the Fire Lord."

"Oh. I guess you're right," Aang mumbled, his shoulders drooping.

Sokka made a disgusted sound. "Great. Wonderful. Here's to yet another dead end. So much for being able to use our time wisely and learn something from this side trip."

"Oh, I don't know," Li Mei said with a smile. "You might learn a little something from our stones that may be of use to you. Or maybe, you might learn to let our stones help you."

"Oh yeah? And how would a bunch of colored rocks be able to help us against an army of Fire Nation soldiers?" Sokka asked bitterly.

Li Mei looked uncertain. "Well…maybe not against the soldiers, but there's so much more to life than surviving vicious attacks from the Fire Nation and training for the battle that would decide the fate of the world, don't you think?" Bemused silence greeted her assertion and she rushed to add: "For instance, you're holding a stone in your hand, aren't you, Katara? I heard it click against the other stones when you picked it up. Would you describe it to me, please?"

"This?" Katara glanced down at the stone she still held in her hand. "It's smooth and rounded and it's a gorgeous dark blue with gold speckles all over it."

Li Mei smiled again. "Lapis lazuli. It's the stone of friendship and truth. It helps its wearer be truthful and honest, especially around his friends, and this strengthens their relationship. As strong as the friendship is among the three of you, I'm sure there will be times when being truthful to one another won't be as easy, and here is where lapis lazuli helps."

Aang couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw Katara grimace ever so slightly. "Really? It does? How lovely. Here, Aang, you can look at it if you want to." She passed him the stone with some alacrity and he turned it over in his hands, admiring its beauty.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "As if I'd ever need a lump of rock to help me talk to my friends. As a conversation piece, maybe, but to help me be truthful? Bunch of nonsense."

"What about the pendant on Katara's necklace?" Aang asked.

Katara reached up to touch the blue stone hanging from the choker around her throat. "That's right! I've always wanted to know what kind of stone my mother's necklace is made from. It must mean something wonderful."

Grandfather Wang squinted at it briefly. "Cat's eye apatite, from the looks of it. That blue color is relatively rare. It can be found in some of the ice-covered mountains in the northern regions. The carvings were probably made by a piece of quartz or a steel knife or—"

"Or a shard of ice?" Katara suggested.

Grandfather Wang nodded. "Hmm, yes. Ice gets pretty hard in the temperatures you have at the North Pole. Apatite is known to enhance its wearer's insight and learning abilities. If you need to learn a new skill, particularly one involving body movements and coordination, then apatite is the stone for you."

"Oh, that's right!" Katara exclaimed. "I was wearing this pendant when Aang and I were training with Master Pakku. It must have helped me learn all those waterbending moves."

"Wow, neat!" Aang agreed, leaning over to examine Katara's pendant. Noticing his movement, she reached up to undo the clasp and handed the necklace to him to give him a closer look.

"It was hard work that made you a waterbending master, Katara," Sokka pointed out. "Not some shiny blue stone, no offence to Mother's necklace. Aw, I can't believe you guys are even listening to this."

"Sokka," Katara said warningly, before turning back to the couple. "It must be fascinating working with gems and knowing what powers they have. Not to mention they're so pretty to look at."

"Yes, it is very interesting," Li Mei said. "There's a gemstone for practically anything you'd ever need. There's a stone for protection from injuries, a stone to help you sort out your emotions, a stone to give you confidence, a stone to bring romance into your life—"

"Really?" Hearing the eagerness in his own voice, Aang flushed and hastily backpedaled. "I, uh, I can't believe there's a stone even for something like that."

"Neither can I," Sokka put in. "This is just a load of—"

"Sokka." Katara's voice was dangerously low.

"Oh yes, there is." Li Mei reached into the pocket of her trousers and fished out a coin-sized, pale pink nugget. "Here it is. Rose quartz. The stone of love and romance."

"More like 'the stone for fleecing lovesick idiots of their hard-earned money,'" Sokka sneered.

Katara passed a hand over her eyes. "All right, that's it. Appa, take us down. I think we need a breather."

"What?" Sokka burst out. "Down where? And last time I checked, I'm the one who's steering."

"There's a hill straight ahead, Sokka. We can stop down there for a while and take a break. I really need to stretch my legs. Come on, Appa. Let's go down."

With a grunt, Appa descended. On the ground, Killer squawked but obediently jogged off the road, meeting the bison at the bottom of a gently-rising hill covered with stubby grasses and tiny, white and yellow flowers. Clusters of trees and bamboo marked either side of the top of the hill and the breeze swept through the branches with a soothing, rustling sound, an almost musical sound. Aang gazed around him, breathing deeply. He had to admit, Katara couldn't have picked a nicer place to take a break from flying and relax a bit.

Except that, judging from the fierce frown on Katara's face and the way Sokka was muttering underneath his breath, relaxing appeared to be the farthest thing on his friends' minds.

As the others climbed down, Aang turned to Li Mei, who was sitting very still with her hands folded in her lap. From the stiffness of her pose, he could tell that Sokka's mockery had not gone unnoticed. "We've stopped at the bottom of a hill," he said, trying to inject some cheerfulness in his tone. "Hope you won't mind being late coming home."

Li Mei shook her head. "Not at all, Avatar."

"Um, okay." Aang was saved from further awkwardness by Momo, who darted over and placed the garnet in Li Mei's lap. She gasped in surprise, following the sound of Momo's chittering as he scrambled up Aang to sit on his shoulder. Aang laughed and scratched the lemur behind the head. "Well, Momo definitely likes you, Li Mei. Okay, like I said before, hold on tight."

She gasped again when Aang picked her up and jumped off Appa, setting her beside her grandfather and Killer, who were waiting below. She smiled at Aang gratefully and even though he knew she couldn't see it, he couldn't help but return her smile.

"Aang?"

He turned to see Katara standing beside Sokka. Her ice-blue eyes shifted from him to Li Mei and Grandfather Wang. "I'm really sorry about this," she said to the couple. "Would you excuse us for a minute? The three of us have something we need to talk about. Come on, Aang."

He trailed after the siblings as they walked some distance away, leaving the old man and his granddaughter standing silently beside Appa. As soon as they were out of hearing range, Katara immediately turned to her brother. "All right, Sokka. Tell us what's bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me."

"Sokka, you've been acting really obnoxious since we met Grandfather Wang and Li Mei, and I want to know why you're doing it."

"Oh yeah? Well, I want to know why you agreed to go to Tai Shen with these people," Sokka retorted. "Can't you see there's something weird about them? How do you know we can trust them?"

Katara rolled her eyes. "Weird about what? An old man and his blind granddaughter? You need to stop being so suspicious of people who are different from you, Sokka, especially people you've just met. You treated Aang the same way the first time you met him, remember?"

Sokka glowered at Aang, who shrugged and grinned helplessly. "Okay, so I was wrong about Aang," he relented. "But I'm not wrong about this one. These two are lying to us. They've been lying to us since the moment we saw them."

Katara crossed her arms. "Let me guess. Your instincts told you this, right?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Sokka countered. "And if you remember, my instincts weren't so far off the mark the last time I thought there was something fishy about somebody we just met."

Katara's gaze wavered, and Aang knew she was thinking about Jet. "I don't know, Sokka. All I know is you're being unbelievably rude to Grandfather Wang and Li Mei, and I can't understand why."

"That's because they're lying, Katara!" Sokka yelled in frustration. "As in not being completely honest?"

"Uh, guys?" Aang said.

"What would they have to lie about, Sokka?" Katara's voice had risen as well. "You act as if an old man and a blind girl could actually be a threat to us!"

"Guys, you're getting kind of loud," Aang tried again.

"Why don't you open your eyes and see what's in front of you instead of what you've been made to believe?"

"Why don't you stop being such a cynical jerk?"

"Um, excuse me?"

All three spun around. Both Li Mei and Grandfather Wang were standing behind Aang, with the old man's arm around his granddaughter's. Li Mei gently shook her grandfather's arm off, stepped forward and bowed low. "Please forgive us. We—I never meant to cause any strife among you. Katara, Sokka…Avatar Aang, I humbly ask your forgiveness for whatever it is I have done to offend you."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you went all bullish on them, Li Mei," Grandfather Wang muttered dryly.

Katara waved her hands in front of her. "No, no. We're the ones who have to apologize, Li Mei. Please don't think—"

"Apology accepted," Sokka cut in brusquely.

"Sokka!"

"Now will you please come clean and stop lying to us? It's putting me on edge."

Aang saw the color drain from Li Mei's face and even Grandfather Wang looked slightly guilty, though not at all surprised. "Lying?" Li Mei said faintly.

Sokka threw up his hands. "I mean about being blind. Because you're not, you know."

"What?" three voices cried in unison. "H-how did you know?" Li Mei whispered.

"Yeah, Sokka, how did you know?" Aang asked, staring at the older boy.

Sokka smiled for the first time since meeting the old man and the girl. "Easy. When we first found you and your grandfather picking those beads up, I noticed you weren't feeling around on the ground for them, and your hand was moving between the ground and the bag too fast for somebody who can't see her targets. I was actually surprised to find out you were blind. Uh, supposedly, that is. And when Aang left to go rescue Killer, I saw Katara staring after Aang, and her head moved as she followed his flight."

At that Aang shot Katara a curious glance, but she wasn't looking at him now. All her attention was focused upon her brother and his revelations about their new friends.

"You were looking up, too, Li Mei, and your head moved the same way Katara's did. But Aang wasn't talking anymore, so you couldn't have been following his voice," Sokka continued, his voice taking on a distinctly smug tone. "And finally—oh man, I can't believe you guys didn't pick up on the last clue. I was so obvious about it, too," he grumbled to Aang and Katara.

"What clue?" Katara asked.

"You know, when I pretended that a bead had fallen out? Grandfather Wang and Li Mei both began looking around for it. It's a common reflex—if you can see. If Li Mei were really blind, she would have known at once that no bead had fallen out because she would have heard it fall if it had. So that led me to believe that not only are you not blind, Li Mei, you can actually see through that blindfold and you're just acting blind," Sokka finished triumphantly.

Stunned silence greeted his last sentence. "Wow, Sokka," Aang finally said. "That was amazing."

"Yeah. I'm impressed," Katara added.

Sokka grinned toothily. "What can I say? I try."

"Very perceptive of you," Grandfather Wang commented. "I never thought I'd ever see anyone figure out Li Mei's secret, and so quickly, too."

Li Mei lowered her head into her hands. "I—I don't know what to say," she quavered. "You're right. Everything you said is true. I—I'm sorry. I never meant to deceive you, I—"

"Hey, listen, why don't you just take that blindfold off?" Sokka said, and Aang was surprised to hear the kindness in his voice, considering his behavior toward the girl just a few minutes ago. "How can you see through that thing anyway?"

"The cloth has silver threads woven into it," Li Mei explained, still making no move to remove her blindfold. "It's actually very thin, but the light bounces off the silver threads and makes the cloth look opaque."

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Oh. That's one expensive blindfold."

"I'm so sorry," Li Mei whispered, sounding close to tears.

Katara moved to lay her hands comfortingly on Li Mei's shoulder. "It's okay, Li Mei. We're not really offended. Just…surprised, I guess. I know you must have a good reason to go around pretending to be blind. You can take the blindfold off now. We won't give away your secret."

Li Mei flinched away from Katara. "No, I can't. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?"

Li Mei took another step back, on the verge of panicking. "I can't take off the blindfold…I can't let you see…you're the Avatar, and—"

She was stopped by her grandfather's arm at her back. She glanced at him and took a shuddering breath. "You must trust them, Li Mei," he said quietly. "Trust in the Avatar. You will have to, you know."

Her blindfolded eyes flew toward Aang, and he thought he could almost feel the force of her stare through the white cloth. Then she bent her head again. "Yes, Grandfather," she said meekly.

Grandfather Wang nodded, then stepped in front of his granddaughter, gazing evenly at the trio. "Before she does, I want to show you something." He reached up and poked a hand into his pyramid of hair. He felt around for a moment, then with a pleased grin pulled something shiny out of the wiry mass. "Very handy for keeping precious things, this hair of mine," he said upon noticing the startled expressions of the Avatar and his friends. "That's a good reason to never get it cut, if you ask me. Now then, here."

He tossed the object in the air and Aang caught it reflexively. The object turned out to be a small gold band with a pattern of vines etched upon its surface. Its simple elegance made it a worthy match for the gemstones. "Uh, it's a ring," Aang said, hoping nobody, by whom he meant Sokka, would make any arch comments about his stating the obvious.

"It's lovely," Katara said. "I don't get to see jewelry made of yellow gold a lot. Why do you keep it in your hair, Grandfather Wang? Don't you want to wear it?"

Grandfather Wang turned aside with a sniff. "It's too big for my fingers. The ring keeps falling off. The goldsmith who created that ring forgot the fundamental practice of getting the wearer's correct ring size. Still, for a first attempt, it isn't all that bad."

"Goldsmith?" Sokka echoed, frowning. "I've never heard of a goldsmith or any other metalsmith in the Earth Kingdom. Only the Fire Nation works with…"

The old man saw the dawning realization upon their faces and nodded again. Aang, Katara and Sokka turned as one toward Li Mei, who was still standing half-hidden behind her grandfather. She raised a hand, pulled off her blindfold and lifted her face.

Almond-shaped, slightly bloodshot eyes stared miserably at them. Almond-shaped eyes the color of pale amber.

This time, it was Sokka who stated the obvious.

"You're a firebender!"

(To Be Continued…)

Author's Notes:

INCONSISTENCY ALERT: About Katara's pendant. When I was writing this chapter, I checked out a picture of Katara's pendant to see if it looks like any stone I've seen during my research. The picture I saw, an extreme frontal, made it look as if it was three-dimensional. But when I saw the necklace again from another angle, the darned thing turned out to be flat as a disk. However, I'd already finished the chapter by then, and when I tried removing the part about her pendant, the dialogue didn't quite have same intensity. So unless cat's eye apatite can be cut into disk-shape (and if there are any gemologists out there, PLEASE tell me you can cut apatite as flat as a disk), I have made a bit of a boo-boo regarding her necklace, for which I apologize. I also ask you to just ignore it (sustaining disbelief might help). I promise, it won't make much of an impact in the story, anyway.

Once again, thank you so much to all those who read and reviewed. This chapter took a bit longer than expected and I'm still not sure about its overall quality. (Sigh.) And thanks too to Pen to Paper, N1cindyfan,Scorpiored112 (for being somebody I can look up to, garret or not), me-obviously (for the really helpful tip about the Mary Sue--see, I already changed the initial AN ;), Mage of Swords (who is an old friend), Niana Kuonji (who loves sparkly things), Sasscreech, darktank, LadyMeister, etc. etc. you get the picture. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me keep this going, despite the fact that I haven't seen any more episodes and don't know if my fic still makes sense.