Avatar: the last airbender belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko and Nickelodeon.
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"I can't believe we have to wear those horrors again..." Mai complained under her breath as she followed Ty Lee in a tavern of the Lower Ring. Night had just wrapped Ba Sing Se in its mysterious veil, yet the scent of alcohol already tainted the air inside the establishment. She rolled her eyes at the sight of men slumped in their chairs or sprawling on tables, already drunk.
"Look." Ty Lee said quietly as she faced Mai. "If we want to find the Blue Spirit, we must blend in." She turned around, eying the bartender. "Besides, who would refuse to help the Kyoshi warriors?"
"Whatever. I'll be glad when I'm free of this girly disguise and makeup."
"Good. Now shush or you'll blow our cover." Ty Lee instructed before heading towards the counter.
Mai trailed after her, briefly looking at the few conscious customers. Most of them wore the commonplace outfit of peasants of the Earth Kingdom, but two people caught her interest.
They were seated at a table near the entrance. The quiver and bow hung over the back of one of them instantly identified him as an archer. Save for a red cloth covering one of his shoulders and white linings, his clothes were of earthly tones as well as his hat, similar in shape to those of the Dai Li. She supposed he had hurt his arms as they were bandaged. His shorter companion was rocking on his chair while picking his nails with a knife. He had messy brown hair and two red lines were painted on both of his cheeks. His outfit was darker than the archer's one, excluding his leather breastplate.
Probably savages from the forest or some other forsaken place, she thought. Her train of thought was interrupted by Ty Lee's question to the bartender. She decided listening to the answer was more important than looking at two warrior wannabes."We need to see the Blue Spirit." she started softly. "Do you have any idea where we could find him?"
"And why do you need to see him?" He replied, more interested by the goblet he was cleaning than by the request. He did not even give her a glance.
"The safety of the Earth Kingdom is at stake." Ty Lee lied. "We think he might have valuable information against the Fire Nation."
The man finally looked at her. "Oh." He uttered. "Sorry, I had no idea I was speaking to the famous warriors of Kyoshi." He looked upwards, deep in thought. "There're rumours about soldiers of the Fire Nation who disappeared into a forest west to the city. Maybe the Blue Spirit was the cause." He eventually said, absentmindedly drying the goblet.
"Thank you." Ty Lee replied with a grin. "And goodbye."
"Farewell ladies." The bartender said as they turned to leave. "Hope you'll thwart whatever plan those cursed firebenders have for our city!"
Both girls repressed a grimace. "We'll do that." Ty Lee responded with a forced smile.
They then left the establishment, pleased to have a lead and for Mai's part, relieved to be rid of the stench of alcohol.
"I don't trust rumours." She stated. "We should ask other people. If there's really no proper trace of him, we can still set a trap as he hates the Fire Nation so much."
"Probably." Ty Lee acquiesced.
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Inside the tavern, the archer was still staring at the entrance after the departure of the fake Kyoshi warriors. His companion was looking over her nails, knife ready to brush out any dirt left.
"Those girls."
Smellerbee continued to focus on her nails and picked one of them. "What, the Kyoshi girls?"
He nodded and pointed at his eyes with his index and middle fingers . Smellerbee noticed this and gazed at him. "Their eyes? What's with their eyes." HHe then rapped the cloth over his shoulder. "They had red eyes? Yeah right, that doesn't exist."
Longshot glowered at her. "They were grey."
"So? The Avatar's eyes were grey too." Then, she stopped her knife above her nail. He had grey eyes because he was the last airbender. Only one people had grey eyes other than the Air Nomads. "You mean they're Fire Nation?" He nodded. "Fire Nation spies in Ba Sing Se. Never saw that coming." She glared at the entrance. A spiteful smile appeared on her lips as she got up. "Guess we'll have to take them out."
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As saddened he was by his nephew's betrayal, although he preferred to refer to it as a mistake, Iroh wanted news of Zuko. Even if they came from Azula, the viper who disrupted his relationship with Zuko.
The door of the cell cracked. He had been brought his meal not long ago, so the visitor probably came with news.. He looked up as the door unlocked.
"Esteemed Dragon of the West." Long Feng announced as he walked in. "I bring you news of your little family."
Iroh raised an eyebrow. "Taking over Ba Sing Se takes time. I suppose that's why they didn't come themselves?"
Long Feng chuckled. "Not exactly." He crouched in front of him. "You'll be glad to learn that your niece died." Iroh gasped as his eyes widened. "And your dear nephew will now serve the Earth Kingdom as if it were his home nation."
"That's im-impossible!" Iroh stuttered.
"It is most possible. That's what I like about brainwashing."
Iroh let out a growl. "You little…" He tried to break free to attack and force the offender to free Zuko. Vainly.
Long Feng ignored the outburst. "Don't worry, I have plans for you too. I still remember when you broke into Ba Sing Se, General Iroh. This won't be left unpunished." He glanced at the firebender. "Yes, I know, you might consider your only son's death as terrible enough, but I don't."
The glare Iroh gave Long Feng could have melted metal.
"But you were a great opponent of the Earth Kingdom. Therefore, I'll allow you to choose who to join. Zuko in the chambers of Lake Laogai, or Azula in the Spirit World. I'll leave you some time to make your choice…" He smirked. "And regret attacking this city."
Long Feng then left the cell, leaving a cursing firebender behind him.
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"It seems the first peasant was right. This forest is the only lead we have," Mai declared as Ty Lee and she came out of the seventeenth tavern they visited.
"I hope we'll get him soon." Ty Lee answered, waving the air in front of her nose. She had smelled enough alcohol for a lifetime.
"Let's go back to the palace to take supplies. We don't know how long our hunt will last."
"If it ends one day…" Ty Lee commented sadly.
Mai placed her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Ty Lee, we will get him. You and I both want to avenge Azula, right?" She nodded. "I promise he won't escape us."
Ty Lee was not used to Mai showing so much emotion, but since Azula's death, Mai's façade seemed to slowly fall to pieces. "He won't escape us." She repeated.
They started their way back to the palace, oblivious to the two kids who had been furtively following them since the first tavern. Smellerbee glanced at the departing duo from the wall she was hiding behind.
"Yeah, they're Fire Nation." She said as she leaned against the wall, reproducing Longshot's position. "I think we'll get them a nice surprise in this forest…"
Longshot nodded.
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The weak beating of her heart was all she could feel within her body. Her mind, usually so cunning, was cloudy and failed to understand why she was so feeble. The darkness slowly faded away as she struggled to open her eyes. She blinked a few times, trying to get used to the blinding light.
Then she heard a voice. Faint and remote, but a voice nonetheless, though she could not perceive the words. The voice spoke again, scarcely louder, and she dropped her head on the side in order to face the right direction.
"Are you fine?" She was able to understand some words as the shroud in her mind dwindled. But she was still confused and could not think of an answer. Coherent thought seemed to hide in some corner of her brain and she did not know when it would come out.
"Are you fine?" It repeated. She saw a long green blur surmounted by a smaller black blur. There seemed to have a face inside the latter. She finally found the strength to nod mechanically. "Good news. Do you want something to drink?" Again, she nodded. The blur disappeared.
'Zuko?' The thought came out of nowhere. But the blur did not sound like Zuko. His hair was not that long and the voice was clearly feminine. She stopped musing when the blur came back and brought something to her lips. Without thinking, she drank the water offered to her.
"Feeling better?" She could see more clearly now. The girl seemed to have golden eyes, or maybe brown, she was still too dizzy to tell the difference. "You were really sick." The girl said. "Lee was really afraid for you, you know."
Azula could not wonder who Lee was as she drifted back to oblivion.
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As this fanfiction revolves around surprises, plot twists and other cliffhangers, please do not spoil the events in your reviews.