Chapter Three: The Green Flame
A/N: YAY! Good reviews! Thank yous go to Sahlili20 and WhatsALie for the support! Well here's Chapter three, I hope its good and don't forget to review…
It was still dark and quiet cold outside when they'd finished preparing, Iroh had taken some convincing to get out of bed but once up and awake he moved swiftly. The old man found Zuko's choice a wise decision but didn't say anything about it openly; instead he went about packing with a slight smile on his face.
Yuza explained the route they would take in more detail using a map they found in the apartment. The plan was simple but there were a few loose ends, like what would happen when they reached Fire Nation lines? And how would they know which ship was waiting for them on a river swarming with warships bring food and supplies to the troops on the front lines?
As they were leaving the apartment for, what would probably be, the last time Yuza spoke up. "I have something I need to do before we leave the city…" Zuko turned to face her, appearing frustrated. "What? Aren't we short on time as it is?" he asked.
"Well… you see, although finding you and Iroh was my primary objective I'm sorta' supposed to deliver some documents to the Green Flame…" Yuza whispered before covering her mouth with her hand, realizing she'd divulged sensitive information.
Both Iroh and Zuko gave her a confused looks. "If you don't mind me asking," Iroh began, "What is the Green Flame?"
"Erm…" murmured Yuza, face turning a bright red. "the Green Flame is a sort of… secret resistance group here in Ba Sing Se. It's made up of mostly poor folks who are forced to live in the slums… you've seen the awful slums here…" Both Iroh and Zuko nodded, they'd seen the ghettos in the outer rings of the city.
"Anyway…" Yuza continued, "the Green Flame fights the Earth King's oppression of the lower classes and such. As far as I know, the Green Flame… well it wasn't called that back then… but never mind that… the Green Flame somehow made contact with the MSS asking for aid and support. The Fire Nation… well it was more of the MSS acting alone, promised the GF aid and eventually liberation and in return the GF pledged their loyalty to the Fire Nation."
"I do not believe my brother would have lived up to his end had The Drill succeeded in breaching the city's wall." said Iroh quietly. Zuko appeared rather intrigued, "Just how many members of the Green Flame are there?" asked the prince.
"Uh…" Yuza mumbled, trying to remember, "well I don't really know… my father told me they had 'a great many'. Just how many that actually is I dunno." Zuko nodded slowly "I'd like to meet these people, but by now I'm sure Azula has learned about… my father. So let's hurry up. Alright?"
"Alright, follow me" said Yuza starting off down the dark and deserted street toward the outer ring of the city and the slums.
Within about a half an hour they had reached the heart of the slums, the buildings were rotting away and vermin scurried about searching for scraps to eat. They turned off down a trash littered alleyway between a pair of buildings that appeared as if they could collapse in on themselves at any second.
Zuko was beginning to think it had been a waste of time, slinking around in dark alleys, until he spotted a strange green glow from up around the bend. Stopping he pointed at the green glow, "Look, up ahead. What do you suppose that is?" Zuko whispered to the two others.
Yuza carefully crept up beside Zuko, Iroh just behind her. They remained quiet watching the green glow for a short time. Zuko, his patience wearing thin, started toward the glow without the slightest hint of fear about him. He turned the alley's corner and found the source of the glow, above a large wooden door hung a lantern; its glass tinted green.
The others soon caught up with him, "It's just some old lantern… now can we get going?" said Zuko. Yuza stared at the lantern until it came to her, "This is the symbol of the Green flame!" Iroh approached the door, "Shall I knock?" he asked Yuza.
"I… suppose so." replied the girl. Iroh gently knocked upon the large wooden door, for a short time, nothing happened. Then without warning the door flew open and four figures in dark green cloaks sprang forth through the door way.
There was no time for the old man to react; two of the figures tackled him to the ground. The third, an earthbender, opened the ground beneath Yuza's feet causing her to sink down to her knees into the cobblestone alley. The final figure leapt at Zuko, the prince released a flash of bright flame at his attacker. The figure rolled to the side dodging the fire but did not advance.
The earthbender held up his hands, "Stop this… theses people are Fire Nation." At his words Zuko's attacker backed away and the two figures who had tackled Iroh got up off of him and one helped the old man up. "I'm from the MSS! I can prove it." Yuza said to the earthbender.
The earthbender took off his hood and opened the cobblestone ground freeing the young woman. Yuza stepped up and out of the hole which quickly closed up and returned to normal. With a wave of his hand the earthbender ushered them though the doorway.
After traveling down a long hall they reached an open door and walked inside, the Green Flame members removed their cloaks and set them aside revealing the typical attire of Earth Kingdom peasants. The candlelit room was very small and had no windows; there were a number of wooden benches and a well worn wooden table scattered about.
The earthbender, a scraggly looking man with unkempt dark brown hair turned to face the group. "I am Kenj, block captain in this area for the Green Flame, are you really from the MSS?" Yuza nodded, "Yes, I'm here to deliver some documents and pick up your latest reports. Here, look." the young woman said, removing a small dagger and a few scrolls from her bag.
The earthbender took the dagger and looked it over; it was clearly a Fire Nation design with the MSS crest etched into the hilt. He exchanged the dagger for the scrolls and Yuza returned the weapon to her bag.
Kenj nodded and motioned to one of the other group members. "I'll have the reports for you shortly. We heard about the Drill's failure… we were becoming worried that The Fire Nation had given up on us." "No, we've not given up on you." replied Yuza, trying to reassure the Earth Kingdom rebel.
"That is good to hear… life for us has only gotten worse since our last contact. Now, I'd like to know who these two are." Kenj said pointing to Zuko and Iroh. "Oh… them…" mumbled the young woman. "I am Prince Zuko" said Zuko, "and this is my uncle, Iroh." Iroh nodded at the earthbender.
Kenj stood very still, not sure whether to believe what he'd just heard. "You… are the Prince of the Fire nation?" he asked slowly. Zuko nodded, "Yes, I am…" "Well, what are you doing here? In Ba Sing Se?" The earthbender asked.
Zuko opened his mouth to speak but Yuza beat him to it. "It's a very long story Kenj; but right now we need to get to Kencho village as soon as possible… It's very important that we get back their soon… otherwise there may be great and terrible changes in the Fire Nation that will likely affect the Green Flame too"
The earthbender gave her a curious look, "Alright" he paused as one of the GF members walked in and handed him a few scrolls. "Here are the intelligence reports we've gathered on the defenses and such for the City." he said, giving the scrolls to Yuza.
"Thank you for the understanding" she replied, nodding and placing the scrolls safely in her pack. Zuko was already headed out the door into the hall when Kenj stopped the group. "You know the fastest way to Kencho is by Ostrich horse."
This caught the Prince's attention. "You have Ostrich horses?" he asked, intrigued. "Kenj nodded yes, we've got two in a stable only a few blocks over." Iroh stepped forward between Kenj and Zuko, "There's no need for that; we couldn't possibly take your only pair of ostrich horses."
Kenj chuckled "Don't worry, we can always steal more." Then he ushered the group down the hall and back out into the alley. Waiting in the alley was an old fellow who walked with a limp, he motioned for them to follow and set off down the alley and back to the street.
The first rays of the sun were streaking the sky from the east, though it still remained unpleasantly cool. They reached the stable, which appeared to be an abandoned run down gardening shop. The limping man opened the sliding door at the side of the shop and led the group in. Before them stood two Ostrich horses, both had the brand of the Earth Army upon their flanks.
"Well there they are, take yur pick. But before ya leave remember ta shut the door." said the limping man before bowing and returning to the street. They found a few moth eaten saddle blankets in the room and used them to cover the Army brands on the Ostrich horses.
Once the horses were ready to go Zuko leapt up onto the closest one. "Zuko?" Zuko looked down from atop his mount at Yuza. "May I... ride with you?" asked the young woman, blushing faintly. Across the room Iroh gave Zuko a grin and nodded. "Yeah." replied the prince simply and took the young woman's hand, helping her up onto the Ostrich horse's back.
Cautiously Yuza slipped her arms around Zuko's waist; she was almost certain he would say something but instead he gave no protest. Iroh hastily mounted his Ostrich horse and followed Zuko and Yuza out the sliding door into the street. Before leaving; Iroh turned back toward the shop and reached out shutting the sliding door.
Only a few miles outside of Kencho Dai Li Field Marshal Lang had set up camp, with thirty elite earthbenders and fifty elite soldiers under his command he had been tasked with monitoring refugee movements in the area north of the village.
Lang found refugee monitoring hardly a suitable task for his unit and had become increasingly bored, that is until a strange thing had happened. The night before while the Field Marshal had been asleep a strange girl had approached the camp claiming to have information regarding Fire Nation spies leaving Ba Sing Se.
Lang was quickly awoken by one of his troops and decided to hear the girl out. Her story sounded insane at first but had a level of detail that caused Lang to not immediately dismiss the girl's claim. After speaking with the girl he had decided to have her arrested and questioned further at the Lake Laogai facility.
However, when his troops had moved in to apprehend her she had attacked them using wild martial art techniques and had even defeated five of Lang's elite benders before escaping the camp and disappearing into the night from which she'd came.
This had convinced Lang that the girl's story wasn't a hoax and he had sent a messenger to deliver the report on the spies to Long Feng. Within only a few hours he had received orders to locate the spies at all costs and bring them back to Lake Laogai.
A/N: Ok, that chap took a little longer than expected, I had some homework over the Vet's day weekend so it slowed me down a bit. Oh well, it's all done now. Hope everyone liked this chapter and yeah… please review.